THE BRITAIN-NEPAL SOCIETY

J o u r n a lNumber 39

2015

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THE BRITAIN-NEPAL SOCIETY

JournalNumber 39

2015

CONTENTS

3 The Dharahara Tower5 Editorial7 The Society’s News11 The Annual Nepali Supper12 Sir George Falconer KBE CIE, Minister & Ambassador18 The 2015 Nepal Earthquake – The Gurkha Welfare Trust’s Response25 The Britain-Nepal Medical Trust’s Response to the Earthquake30 Nepal’s Journey to a New Republican and Federal Constitution and

the major earthquake of April 201533 The Baling Peace Talks41 The Sha Tau Kok Border Incidents Hong Kong51 The Earliest Buddhist Shrine: Excavations at the Birthplace

of the Gautama Buddha, Lumbini57 From the Editor’s In-Tray59 Review Article – Down from the Hills62 Review Article - John Cross Author and Novelist 66 Book Reviews73 Obituaries 82 Useful addresses83 Notes on the Britain – Nepal Society84 Officers and Committee of the Society

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DHARAHARA TOWERBy Gerry Birch

The Dharahara Tower or Bhimsen’sTower or even Bhimsen’s Folly as it issometimes known is now no longer a partof the Kathmandu skyline. It was acasualty of the earthquake that shookKathmandu on 25th April. Over recentyears, although it had been restored, ithad been masked by the surroundingdevelopment. I remember very well myfirst flight in an aging Dakota intoKathmandu from India in 1962. As webroke through the clouds the city waslaid out below. Was this to be a real‘Shangri La’? One could see a fairsprinkling of large white ‘palaces’ builtby the Shahs and Ranas and amongstthem a tall white tower, somewhat like aminaret. On my visits in1962-63 I wasable climb the tower. It was close to the

general post office, where if you couldfind some one, it was possible to buypostage stamps. In later years it wasclosed to visitors for a long time due tosafety concerns presumably. It was re-opened in 2005 after restoration hadtaken place and my wife and I climbedthe tower along with both locals andtourists in 2009. This tower wasapparently built by order of BhimsenThapa, to honour his niece, Queen LalitTripura Sundari in around 1832, thesecond of two towers built by him. (InCharles Allen’s ‘Prisoner of Kathmandu’he notes that there were originally twotowers. See review elsewhere in thejournal. Ed.) The function of the towerswas to act as watchtowers. The towerswere no strangers to earthquakes as thepainting by Oldfield, the Residencysurgeon (1850 to 1864) shows. Thedamage shown by Oldfield was probablythe result of an earlier quake possibly1834 and is apparently of the secondtower. The first tower was severelydamaged in 1834. Both towers wereapparently restored but the first one wasdestroyed in 1934. The remaining onewas restored on the orders of the thenprime minister Jooddha Shumsher.

The photograph taken by the lateMayura Brown, a grand-daughter ofJangbahadur Rana, in 1932 would seemto be of the original tower which was notsubsequently re-built. My photograph,taken in 1962 shows the remainingsecond tower. Sadly the earthquakereduced the tower to a heap of rubblewith heavy loss of life.(Note: spelling of ‘Dharahara’ varies! Ed.)The second Bhimsen Tower c 1850. © RGS

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This

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Following the hundredth anniversary ofWorld War I in 2014, 2015 is the twohundredth anniversary of Gurkhasserving the British Crown and isdesignated as ‘Gurkha 200’. Next year,2016, represents the two hundredthanniversary of the Treaty of Segauliwhich formally brought the Anglo-NepalWar 1814 – 1816 to a close and will bemarked as ‘Nepal 200’. Two hundredyears of military service with countlesscampaigns and minor skirmishes aroundthe world in which the Gurkhas havebeen involved cannot be adequately fittedinto this modest journal and has beencovered in many books and journals. Iwould suggest that if you speak to anymember of the public and ask whatcomes to mind when one mentionsNepal, it will be Mount Everest and theGurkhas. HQ Brigade of Gurkhasplanned a series of high profile eventswhich by the time you read this will havetaken place. To mark this 200thanniversary I have included as thefrontispiece a photograph from thecollection of the late Mayura Browndepicting a group of senior British andGurkha officers with the Prime MinisterJoodha Shumsher. On a subsequent visitto the Kaiser Library in Kathmandu Ifound a copy of this photograph hangingon the wall in one of the main corridors.Unfortunately the only description was infaded Nagri script and Mayura’s copyhad no caption. By observation andinquiry, it would seem that thisphotograph was taken in the 1930s,possibly 1932. It shows Prime MinisterJoodha Shumsher with, presumably his

sons and nephews, and a British Major-General (?) with COs and Gurkha Majorsrepresenting the ten Gurkha regiments ofthe Indian Army. Mayura travelled toKathmandu in 1932 (A description of herjourney appeared in the 2000 edition ofthe journal. Ed.). Joodha Shumsher wasprime minister 1932 to 1945.

By chance I came across someinteresting archive material relating to SirGeorge Falconer, last minister and firstambassador in Kathmandu. He waspresent in Kathmandu for VE Daycelebrations in1945 and I have includedthe speech made by the Prime Minister,Jooddha Shamsher, with Sir George’sreply. This serves to illustrate the longGurkha connection and Anglo-Nepalrelations. Again to mark Gurkha service,without this becoming a regimentalhistory, I have included an unusual pieceabout the Malayan emergency whichoccupied the Brigade of Gurkhas post-war from 1948 to 1960 and beyond withaction against Indonesia in Borneo. Afterthe withdrawal from the Far East, theBrigade was concentrated in Hong Kongbut had already been involved in cross-border incidents during the ‘CulturalRevolution’ in China. The recent death ofMajor-General Ronnie McAlister broughtthis to my attention. He was involvedwith an incident on the Hong Kong /Chinese border which could have hadserious consequences.

Sadly 2015 and the plannedcelebrations have been overshadowed bythe earthquakes in April and May. As theChairman’s report indicates the Societyhas been involved with fundraising

EDITORIAL

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events throughout the year and has beenwell supported by members. I am glad tobe able to include reports from Col DavidHayes, a trustee of the Gurkha WelfareTrust, and Dr Gillian Holdsworth of theBritain-Nepal Medical Trust, bothorganisations to which the Societycontributed funds. Having had to dealwith the earthquake in the first half of theyear, the long-expected constitution waseventually promulgated and resulted inconsiderable political unrest. I amgrateful to Professor Subedi for hiscontribution that sets recent events incontext.

I have been a subscriber for sometime to the now quarterly magazineHimal Southasian. This periodical, basedin Kathmandu, carries reviews of politicsand culture of the South Asian region. Intheir Volume 27 Issue 4 I noted a pieceby Professor David Gellner of OxfordUniversity and the Britain NepalAcademic Council entitled FromKathmandu to Kent. This describes thecurrent status of Nepalis now living inUK. I, and I am sure other members ofthe Society are often asked by peopleabout the numbers of Nepalis in UK sothis gives us a good update on thesituation as it is today. The editor ofHimal has kindly given permission forme to reprint the article in this edition ofthe journal. Things have moved a long

way from the early days of the Society,some fifty-five years ago, when so fewNepalis were evident here.

In recent time there has beenincreasing interest in Nepal’s links withthe early years of Buddhism. The Societywas pleased to be updated on thecontinuing excavations and exploration inthe area around Lumbini by ProfessorRobin Coningham at a lecture in May.Included is a piece by him based on thatlecture.

Books about Nepal, in all aspects,continue to come out. I am grateful to DrAndrew Hall for his review concerningtwo recently published works by Nepaliauthors on contemporary eventssurrounding the Maoist uprising. JohnCross who has produced a clutch ofworks, both non-fiction and fiction, hasnow reached his ninetieth year. His lifeand career extends over a largeproportion of the 200 years of Anglo-Nepal co-operation and his books morethan cover that period. I have thereforeincluded a review of his works to markthis anniversary.

I am sure we all wish Nepal well aswe look to ‘Nepal 200’ in the comingyear.

THE SOCIETY’S NEWS(This is an edited version of the Chairman’s report at the AGM on 3rd December 2015)

The Chairman opened the meeting bythanking Mr Tejbahadur Chhetri, theChargé d’Affaires, for once againallowing the Society to hold the AGM atthe Embassy. He went on to state that theSociety continues to look forward to thearrival of a new Ambassador in due timeand thanked Mr Chhetri and his team fortheir continued support to the Society. Healso mentioned that he was sorry to saygood bye to Mr Surya Bahadur Thapa,Third Secretary, who had returned toNepal.

Inevitably the first half of the year wasdominated by the appalling earthquakedisasters that struck Nepal in April andMay. It took some time before the fullscale of the disaster was known but theCommittee immediately sprang intoaction, making donations of £5000 fromSociety reserves to both The GurkhaWelfare Trust and The Britain NepalMedical Trust and £1000 to theEmbassy’s Emergency Relief Fund. Atvery short notice a fundraising event washeld here at the Embassy in the presenceof our President HRH The Duke ofGloucester, who addressed the gathering.Isabella Tree gave a fascinating talk onThe Kumari – The Living Goddess ofKathmandu. Finally an auction ofpromises masterminded by Maggie Solonand MJ Streather raised £6000 towardsthe overall total for the evening of£15000 shared between our two principalrecipient charities.

I trust that you will not think it toouxorious of me if I mention that anumber of unsold auction items wererolled forward to an on-line auction

organised by my wife, raising furthersubstantial sums for our two charities.

Inevitably these events necessitated agreat deal of additional work for ourTreasurer Rupert Litherland. I would liketo thank him for all that he has donethroughout the year to keep our financesin order and to maintain our membershiplists. You will hear later in the eveninghow this money is being spent. One thingis certain; the suffering of hundreds ofthousands of people will continue andNepal will clearly need ongoing help inthe months and years to come. TheCommittee will continue to reflect onways in which we can continue to raisefunds.

I think that we were all struck by thespontaneous generosity of so manyindividuals in response to the crisis. Bothwithin the Society and the wider worldpeople dug deep often not once only butin answer to several appeals. There wasan outflowing of sympathy and concernthat underlined the very specialrelationship between our two countries.

The meeting then kept a few momentssilence to reflect on Nepal’s predicamentand also in memory of those Societymembers whose deaths have beenreported during the year: Tony Andrews,Lady Bishop, Lady Bramall, HenryBurrows, P E Green, David Inglefield,Bob Jordan, Ralph Reynolds, PeterRoberts, Richard Thwaites, BrianThompson, Dr Penny Cunningham andmost recently our much loved andadmired former Treasurer, Peter Trott. Atthe time of writing, there is no news ofthe whereabouts of Robin Garton who

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went missing in September whilstwalking in Glencoe.

Alongside our fundraising efforts theprogramme has followed its customarypattern. A successful annual supper washeld in February and was enlivened by adisplay of Nepali dancing and a highlyentertaining speech by Lord Phillips ofWorth Matravers. Three lectures wereheld at the Medical Society of London.Topics discussed were Excavating theBirthplace of the Buddha at Lumbini,Water Aid in Nepal and The Genealogiesof the Shah, Rana and Other Families,the last by Society member GregHickman. It is encouraging to see thegradual growth in numbers at theseevents. Recent occasions having seen thetalks attended by some fifty members andguests, most of whom stayed on forsupper. These evenings are very pleasantoccasions and the Chairman encouragedmembers to attend as much as possible.

Most recently, we held a ‘NepalEvening’ at Knole Academy inSevenoaks. The event, superbly organisedby Ashley Adams, was a huge successexceeding all our expectations. Some 40-50 students from six or seven schools anda similar number of adults attended andenjoyed a varied programme ofpresentations. Society members AndySparkes and Alison Marston spoke on AnIntroduction to Nepal and Life andSchool in Nepal respectively. We thenheard accounts of Wildlife andConservation in Nepal and The NepalEarthquake Relief Operation. There wasa piper, dancing (including the kukridance), singing, flamboyant costumesand displays, all of which created a veryvivid image of Nepal. Nepalese snacks, abicentenary cake baked by a Gurkharegimental chef, and a lusty rendition of

the Nepalese National Anthem all addedto the occasion.

All of the schools involved werealready doing something for or withNepal – fundraising (all of them), pen palletters, schools twinning, trekking, D of Eetc and I am sure that all of them andtheir parents will go away thinking abouthow they can continue and develop thesecontacts.

Several people expressed interest injoining the Society and an Everestsummiteer offered to give a lecture to theSociety. The welcome given by KnoleAcademy was generous and the schoolproved an ideal location for such anevent. A great amount of work went intoarranging all this and Ashley deserves ahuge vote of thanks for turning the visioninto reality. It was an exciting evening, amarvellous first for the Society and onewhich I hope that we can build on in timeto come.

Looking ahead, the annual supper willtake place as usual at St Columba’sChurch Hall, Pont Street on 18thFebruary. The Chief Guest will be AndySparkes, recently our Ambassador inKathmandu who will be admirablyplaced to tell us about earthquake reliefefforts and perhaps to give us anoverview of political developments inKathmandu following the adoption of thenew constitution. Our programme oflectures for next year is taking shape. InMay Zara Fleming’s title will be FromZanskar to Bhutan with some marvellousillustrations. A talk on Everest is in thepipeline and other speakers will beannounced in due course. We are alsoplanning a screening of Mahout, a filmthat follows the re-location of fourelephants as they are walked fromChitwan to Badia national parks.

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During the year the Committee hasworked hard to extend the activities ofthe Society and to improve ourcommunications. We continue to use e-mail to alert members to events ofinterest which are not necessarilyarranged by the Society. If you wouldlike to receive these notifications pleaseensure that we have your e-mail contactdetails. Excellent progress is being madewith the production of our new websitewhich we hope will go live in the firstquarter of 2016. Alison Marston,chairman of the younger memberscommittee, continues to keep a watchfuleye on our Facebook site.

The bulk of the Society’s archive isnow held at the Gurkha Museum inWinchester. If you would like to consultthe archive or have any items that wouldbe appropriate for the collection pleaselet Gavin Edgerley-Harris or myselfknow. Details are shown in the journal.

Later this month we have been invitedby the Foreign and CommonwealthOffice jointly to host a reception to markthe bicentenary of the Treaty of Segaulisigned in 1816 marking the end of theAnglo-Nepal War. Our plans for aSociety trip to Nepal in spring 2016,ideally to overlap with a projected Royalvisit to Kathmandu are well underway.Various combinations of sight-seeing inKathmandu and the Valley, six days ofluxury tented or luxury lodge-basedtrekking (or no trekking at all!), wildlifein the Terai and exploration in andaround Pokhara have been finalised. Wenow await confirmation of the details ofthe Royal visit so that we can finalise ourown dates and begin to sign upparticipants. If you are interested injoining this trip or learning more about itplease let me know.

As most of you will know, we havebeen immensely lucky to appoint Mrs MJStreather as Honorary Secretary. MJ tookover from Jenifer Evans earlier in theyear and was immediately plunged intothe somewhat nerve-racking task oforganising our earthquake fundraisingevent. That it was such a success was duein good measure to her hard work alongwith that of members of the committee. Itis very good to know that the affairs ofthe Society are in such good hands. Wewere able to say thank you formally toJenifer at last year’s meeting but happilyit was not farewell as Jenifer has agreedto continue as a committee member.

I would also like to give my personalvote of thanks to the Committee whowork so hard to keep the Society up andrunning. For obvious reasons this hasbeen a demanding year and memberscould not have a better committee tofoster their interest in and enthusiasm forNepal. And if others of you would like toconsider serving on the committee doplease let me know.

Finally, I would like on your behalf tothank Mahanta Shrestha and PrashantKunwar for so generously providing theKhukuri beer for us this evening. I amsure that you will want to take fulladvantage of their kindness. Many thanksare due to Monty and Prashant.

The Chairman then invited ColonelWilliam Shuttlewood, Director of TheGurkha Welfare Trust, and Dr GillianHoldsworth, Trustee of The Britain NepalMedical Trust to tell us how ourdonations to their earthquake reliefefforts are being spent.

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11

THE ANNUAL NEPALI SUPPER 2015By Frances Spackman

Our annual supper last month was hugelyenjoyable – but then it always is. It tookplace as usual in St Columba’s churchhall, Pont Street on the 19th February.First of all there was the great pleasure oflistening to Lord Philips of WorthMatravers recounting entertaining eventsfrom his long and distinguished legalcareer. He has been a member of theBritain-Nepal Society for many years andjudging by the audience response, hewould be welcomed by everyone forfurther reminiscences if he could bepersuaded to make a return appearance.

The Chargé d’Affaires, Mr TejChhetri, addressed the members andguests and updated everyone with aspectsof the current state of affairs betweenBritain and Nepal. Thanks to theinitiative of committee member AshleyAdams, we had the new and mostwelcome addition of two Nepali dancersto entertain us. They were smiley,charming and most accomplished. Theevening continued with all the usual (andunusual) ingredients – the Gurkha piper,

Khukri beer, the flags of Britain andNepal and the loyal message to HerMajesty the Queen and Her graciousreply. The traditional Nepali food wasexcellent as always.

It was a sign that the evening was asuccess that no-one seemed to want toleave. It might have been reluctance tobrave the cold and the rain that explainedit, but most likely it was the enjoymentbeing had by all to judge by the chatting.There were several new members presentand with luck they will attend futuresuppers and society events so they willeventually feel as much at home as theold stagers.

As always many thanks are due toRoger Potter our Chairman and theorganisers on the committee who can berelied upon to make it all happen.Regarded by many (or is that just thecommittee?) as the social highlight of theBNS year, this year’s supper was onceagain a great success so “well done” toall concerned.

SOCIETY ARCHIVES & JOURNAL The Society has an archive of papers, documents and other ephemera relating to its work since it was founded in 1960. This archive is currently lodged at The Gurkha Museum in Winchester. Anyone who wishes to view the BNS

Archive should first make an appointment by contacting the Curator on 01962 842832 or e-mail curator@thegurkhamuseum.co.uk

Duplicate copies of the journal can be obtained from the editor and a limitednumber of back editions may also be purchased for £3.50 per copy plus p&p.

Contact the editor at email: gerry.birch3@btinternet.comPast editions can also be viewed on the Digital Himalaya website:

www.digitalhimalaya.org

SIR GEORGE FALCONER KBE CIE DLBy Gerry Birch

Sir George Falconer was the last‘minister plenipotentiary & envoyextraordinary’ and the first ‘ambassador’in Kathmandu, spanning the period 1944to 1951. (The succession of Britishrepresentatives in Kathmandu is listed inthe 2010 edition of the journal.). Hisniece had, through family circumstances,become the custodian of his medals,memorabilia and papers and felt thatthese should be properly preserved. Tothat end she contacted the curator of theGurkha Museum, Gavin Edgerley-Harris.Since his niece, Mrs Alice Bunbury, livedin Southwold I was asked to go to seeMrs Bunbury collect the medals anddeliver safely to the museum. On arrivalin Southwold I was royally entertainedby Charles & Alice Bunbury to lunch. Aswe discussed Sir George’s career andviewed the medals and some papers it

was clear that this would be a majorarchive as Sir George and his wife Estherhad kept some fascinating original lettersfrom his time in Kathmandu includingsome from the Rana prime ministers andthe king, at that time HM KingTribhubana.

George Falconer was born in 1894and saw service in World War I in the 4thHussars as a trooper and wassubsequently commissioned into theIndian Cavalry in 1916. He joined the28th Light Cavalry in Meshed, Persia. In1921 he was transferred to 2/6th GukhaRifles in the rank of captain. He sawservice on the North West Frontier andjoined the Indian Political Service (IPS)in 1923 and was promoted to major in1935. His IPS appointments took him toAden, Kashmir and Baroda. He wasappointed Consul in Kerman, Persia,serving there from 1937 to 1942. It waswhilst in this post that he wasinstrumental in facilitating the move ofShah Reza from Persia to allow his sonto takeover as Shah, followingapproaches that had been made to Rezaby the Germans. Falconer was intimatelyinvolved with detailed negotiationssurrounding the removal of Reza and topersuade him to abdicate in favour of hisson. There was concern that the Persianswould allow the Germans to enter thecountry from the north which would haveled to the internment of British nationalsfor the duration of the war. Forces weresent from India with participation by bothFrench and Russian forces which kept theGermans at bay. Falconer then escortedReza with his wife to the coast wherethey were put on ship to South Africa.

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Sir George Falconer.

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He was congratulated by the ExternalAffairs department in Delhi for his part inthis episode and was awarded the CIE inthe same year.

In 1944 he took up the post of ministerin Kathmandu where he was to remainuntil retirement in 1951. His term ofoffice covered the end of World War IIand Indian independence in 1947, aninteresting and testing time. It was duringthis time that Alice Bunbury visited heruncle in Kathmandu in 1950/51. Shewith Lady Esther Falconer collectedsome interesting photographs, some ofwhich are now in the museum archives.Falconer was awarded the KBE on 31stDecember 1947 doubtless reflecting hiswork in the 1947 negotiations as theBrigade of Gurkhas was split between theBritish and Indian armies. I haveincluded a picture of Sir George Falconerin his ambassadorial uniform. A copyhangs in the Chancery in Kathmandu. Hehas a rather severe and possibly sad lookabout him. This I believe reflects a majorsadness in his life as his son died aged 15in UK whilst on holiday from hisboarding school. This would have beenhard to bear especially at such a distance.This may account for the fact that thephotograph does not show him wearingeither the CIE or KBE. When I collectedthe medals they both appear never tohave been worn.

On his retirement to Suffolk he wasactive in local affairs. He was a memberof the West Suffolk County Council,appointed a Deputy Lieutenant and heldthe appointment as High Sheriff in 1964.He died aged 87 in September 1981. Hiswife Lady Esther Falconer died two yearslater in 1983.

Amongst the archives I discovered twoimportant speeches following the end of

the war in Europe made by the PrimeMinister of Nepal and Sir George’s reply.I believe these speeches, slightlyshortened, are appropriate in this year of‘Gurkha 200’ and help to sum up Anglo–Nepal relations.

SPEECH MADE BY HIS HIGHNESSSIR JOODHA SHUMSHER JANG

BAHDUR RANA, PRIME MINISTER OFNEPAL – MAY 1945 AT THE VE DAY

PARADE IN KATHMANDU

“Your Majesty,With your Majesty’s permission I wouldlike to address a few words to theBharadars and other gentlemen who havegathered here today.

Colonel Falconer, Commander-in-Chief, Commanding Generals, Generals,Bharadars, Officers and men of the Armyand Gentlemen,

The welcome news of unconditionalsurrender of Germany having terminatedthe gigantic war which had been ragingin Europe for close on five and threequarter years has filled Nepal as oneamong the allies with very great joy.

A tiny spark which set the wholeworld ablaze first appeared in middleEurope and went on assuming suchserious proportions as to envelope theworld in the conflagration caused by it.Strange events were seen and curiousoccurrences began to take place ininternational politics; reason could get nopatient hearing; righteousness, justice,and good faith seemed to get no place init. Aggression became the order of theday, while pacts and plighted wordsceased to have any meaning whatsoever.

Britain foresaw what such a disastrouscourse events would lead the world to,

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and her government tried its best to avertsuch a danger. All efforts however provedof no avail with one filled with theambitions of dominating the wholeworld. Thus forced by circumstancesBritain had to come forward and take thefield with a view to protect the weak andhelpless and uphold the cause of truthand justice. Having had to deal withswollen head enemy and unprepared asshe was she had, at the outset, to passthrough some dark days. But then by thegrace of the Great Dispenser of Justice,Britain found herself at such a criticaltime favoured with good fortune ofhaving got at the helm of her state a wisesagacious and very proficient person likethe Right Honourable Mr WinstonChurchill. The admirable way thisillustrious and eminent soldier-statesmanwent on tackling successfully all theproblems as they cropped up in the wakeof the swift moving events of the daywas simply marvellous. The foresight,

sagacity and firm determination shownby him ion dealing with state affairs hasrightly won him the glorious epithet ofbeing called the “Father of Britain.”

A friend is by duty bound to help afriend in need. A firm friendship of about130 years binds Britain and Nepaltogether. Since that time Nepal has evershown herself ready to come forward tohelp Britain to the best of her ability intimes of emergency. At the time of theSepoy Mutiny of 1857 in India whenBritain was passing through a criticaltime the armed might of Nepal was fullyengaged in cementing the bonds offriendship between the two governmentswith the life’s best blood which was thenfreely shed in support of the Britishcause. The help thus rendered by Nepalwas then gratefully acknowledged and

gracefully marked with a tangibletoken of appreciation by the BritishGovernment, which the NepalGovernment had the pleasure to accept.

Again in 1914 the outbreak of the lastGreat War saw Nepal ready to helpBritain as the best she could with herarmy and any other such resources as shepossessed. And when God was pleased tofavour her friend with final victory shehad the pleasure of accepting what wasgiven her by her grateful friend as atangible token of appreciation of thevaluable rendered by her.

In this war also Nepal has strainedevery nerve from the very beginning tobe of what use she could, and we werenot slow to gird up our loins to gothrough all the vicissitudes of the warand sail in the same boat with our greatfriend and ally in crossing the frightfulocean of this gigantic struggle. Nepal hasdone her best. Indeed she could not havedone better. We have provided freely and

15

unconditionally whatever help was askedfor from us without waiting for a momentto consider the inconveniences anddifficulties that might arise there from.The fateful days of the evacuation ofDunkirk, the treacherous leap of Italyinto the war, the abject surrender ofFrance to the enemy, the terrible blitzover London and England at the timewhen Britain was in an unprepared state,the sudden and unjustified opening ofhostilities by Japan, all these could notmake us flinch in the least in our firmbelief of the achievement of final victoryby our great friend. The ultimaterealisation of that firm belief now hasfilled the hearts of us all here and thepeople of this country in general withsupreme pleasure and gratification.

Ours is a small hilly kingdom. Ourresources are also similarly small.Whatever help we have been able torender can but mean quite insignificantbefore the prowess and vast resources ofthe mighty British government. All thesame Nepal has left nothing undone forthe sake of her friend. The number of hersons sent out by her to serve with heartand soul the righteous cause of Britainhas already come to over 148,000. Ofthem 132,000 are those sent forenlistment in the British Gurkharegiments of the Indian Army; 4000formed part of those enlisted in themilitary Labour Corps while 12,500 arerepresented by the eight infantrybattalions of our own army plus onepioneer battalion attached to it and thedrafts sent to them from time to time.Surely such a supply of manpower froma small country like ours is no smallthing. The Gurkhas as a martial race iswell known everywhere. What Nepalican there be who does not feel elated

when he hears of the gallantry shown byhis compatriots, who have gone out to beenlisted in the British Gurkha Regimentsand be of help to the British Government.Fighting with great valour in allbattlefields wherever they happen to beand shedding their lives’ best blood in theservice of the British cause are cementingstill more firmly the happy friendlyrelations and adding fresh lustre to thetraditional friendship subsisting betweenNepal and Britain.

All the units of our contingent in Indiahave also been doing well, each in itsown sphere of action. I am indeed muchgratified to learn from reports receivedthat of these the Kalibahadur, the Shereand the Mahendra Dal have acquittedthemselves very well, the former two ofresisting the Japanese invasion of Indiaand the latter as much in fighting as indriving the Japs across Burma. It isindeed very pleasing to hear that Lieut-Col Chhatra Bikram Rana a mere

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youngster of 31 and Major PadamBahadur Shah the OC and second-in-command respectively as well as theother officers of that battalion haveacquitted themselves creditably. It is sucha great pleasure to think that their returnhome cannot be long delayed now, andwe are much looking forward to the daywhen we shall have the satisfaction ofwelcoming them back home.

Colonel Falconer,We thank you from the bottom of ourheart for your having kindly come to joinus in this victory celebration. It is notvery long since Your Excellency has beenhere as Representative of our great friendBritain. Yet I feel sure you have seenenough to realise how our country standsand the long firm friendship we have withBritain. You have seen how during allthese last 130 years Nepal has neverflinched to freely apply her manpowerand money in support of the British causeand how in this terrific world-wide waralso she has come forward to helpBritain. We feel sure that like a goodfriend you are, Your Excellency will notfail in your co-operation towards ensuringfrom your government due recognition ofthe help rendered by her, by tokenscalculated to foster her happiness andprosperity. I am loath to say this and thatshould be given to us. Whatever our greatand magnanimous friend be pleased togive will be welcome to us.Gentlemen,I cannot pass this day of rejoicing withoutmentioning the glorious example set byTheir Imperial Majesties the King andQueen of Great Britain to their people tocalmly go through the ravages of war andthe visits made by His Majesty to hisarmy at various fronts to cheer them up in

the deadly struggle in which they wereengaged. I find no words to adequatelyexpress my admiration and so contentmyself by simply saying I salute them.”

THE REPLY BY LT COL GA FALCONERHER BRITANNIC MAJESTY’SMINISTER IN KATHMANDU

“Your Majesty,Your Highness, Your Excellency,Commanding Generals, Ladies andGentlemen.

I am very grateful to Your Highnessfor the glowing tribute you have paid toHis Majesty my Sovereign and QueenElizabeth who during the last 5 ½ yearsshared with their peoples all the perilsand dangers which beset Great Britain.Their calm courage and high sense ofduty has been a shining light to thepeoples of the British Commonwealth ofNations, and indeed to many others,throughout the dark days of that chapterof European history which happily hasnow been closed.

I also thank Your Highness for thegenerous words you have spoken aboutthe Prime Minister of Great Britain, TheRight Honourable Winston SpencerChurchill, who, by his infinite courageand leadership sustained the peoples ofthe British Commonwealth and othernations when their fortunes in war wereat their lowest ebb and through ‘blood,tears, toil and sweat’ guided them tovictory over their enemies in Europe andAfrica and to the preservation of theirfreedom.

Today Nepal celebrates this greatvictory in Europe and I am honoured bythe privilege of being present to witnessthis ceremony. From the outset of

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hostilities, Your Highness has maintaineda firm belief in the righteousness andultimate triumph of the British and Alliedcause. Today we know that belief waswell founded.

The traditional friendship between ourtwo countries, which has now stood thetest of 130 years, was further emphasisedwhen in March, 1940 a strong Contingentfrom the Nepalese Army (under thecommand of Commanding General SirBahadur Shumshere) crossed the frontierinto India for the third time in our jointhistory to range itself alongside theBritish forces in the great struggle whichwas to follow. In addition to this, largenumbers of your brave countrymen havegone forth to swell the ranks of theGurkha Regiments in the Indian Army.The gallant deeds of the soldiers fromNepal on the fields of battle are well-known to all the world. The manydecorations for bravery bestowed uponthem, are proof, if any proof is needed, oftheir conduct in battle.

On behalf of my Government and theGovernment of India I take thisopportunity to express their thanks andwarm appreciation of the greatcontribution made by Nepal towards thecomplete defeat ofGermany and hersatellites in Europeand Africa. Thiscontribution is notforgotten, andassuredly will not beforgotten by myGovernment.

It is very fittingafter 5½ years ofgreat stress andstrain, we shouldawhile celebrate the

overthrow of the aggressor and therestoration of freedom in Europe. But thevictory over Germany, great andimportant though it is, is but a stage inthe total defeat of the Axis Powers. Thereremains yet one other to be dealt with,Japan. I am confident that with theadditional power which will soon bebrought to bear upon that country andwith the continued assistance of YourHighness’s Government and the Nepalesesoldiers, the overthrow of the remainingenemy of freedom-loving Nations bothgreat and small, cannot be long delayed.”

“We salute Nepal and ‘Johnny Gurkha’Long live His Majesty theMaharajadhiraja of Nepal

Long live His Majesty the Maharaja ofNepal”

The photographs, taken by LadyFalconer, show Sir George Falconer withField Marshal Sir Mohun Shumsher JangBahadur Rana, GCB, GBE, GCIE. Itseems from the archive that this is aceremony to invest the Field Marshalwith the GCB.

THE 2015 NEPAL EARTHQUAKETHE GURKHA WELFARE TRUST’S RESPONSE

By Colonel David Hayes CBE(GWT trustee strategy)

The ContextNormally, when landing at Kathmanduairport, I anticipate the exhilaration ofmeeting old friends amongst our Gurkhacommunity, the prospect of hard butrewarding trekking in the foothills and,once there, the opportunity to observe thegood work of the Gurkha Welfare Trust,through its field arm The Gurkha WelfareScheme (GWS), in its task of caring forour Gurkha veterans, their families andtheir wider communities.

My visit last July, within 3 months ofthe earthquake, would be very different.Much of the historical sites ofKathmandu would be lying in ruins, itspeople would be anxious, normal city lifewould be on hold, and in the hills therewould be the tragedy of death anddestruction heralding the end of the oldways, perhaps for ever.

I was traveling with WilliamShuttlewood our Trust’s Director, and wewere arriving in Nepal to start to plan theTrust’s long-term strategic response tothe recent earthquake. The GWS hadcommitted itself magnificently to theimmediate crisis within its means.Nonetheless, this was such a seismicnational disaster event for Nepal and itspeople, that a rapid ‘change of gear’ tomeet a broader longer-term recovery wasneeded.

Within days of the earthquake, ourTrustees had committed funds andindicated their intent to support Nepal forthe hard years ahead. We had arrived toassess the strategic priorities, the level of

our future ambition and to identify theresources to meet that commitment.

Our initial expectations held true, barone. In time of national crisis, we hadunder estimated the resilience of theNepalese, and our Gurkha hillcommunities in particular. Devastation,the loss of loved ones, the eradication ofcommunities and livelihoods, were notallowed to interfere with the gentle graceand courtesy of traditional welcomes. Inthose simple, genuine ceremonies one feltthe tangible robustness and dignity of anation and its people, unbowed.

It was very clear that as a nation Nepalwas getting ready to fix that whichneeded to be. After an understandablyhesitant start the Government had alreadyannounced the structures and immediateconditions under which it intended to re-start and to rebuild its nation. Weforesaw our immediate task as to linkinto that structure and its processes, andto apply our expertise and funds tosupport it. Our retired Gurkhas and thoseserving elements of the Brigade alreadydeployed in country were fired up todeliver their part and more.

What follows is a progress report onhow far they, with our Trust in support,have travelled along the road to recovery,and what still needs to be done.

The FactsThe April 2015 Nepal Earthquake, alsoknown as the Gorkha Earthquake inrecognition of the location of theepicentre in Gorkha District in mid-

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western Nepal, killed nearly 9,000 peopleand injured more than 23,000 in Nepaland its neighbours. It occurred at 11.56NST on 25 April, with a magnitude of7.8. Its epicentre was 80kms to thenorthwest of Kathmandu and it lastedapproximately 50 seconds. It was theworst natural disaster to strike Nepalsince the 1934 Nepal-Bihar Earthquake.

The earthquake triggered an avalancheon Mount Everest, killing 22 climbersand Sherpas, making April 25 2015 thedeadliest day on the mountain in history.

The earthquake triggered another hugeavalanche in the Langtang Valley.

Hundreds of thousands of people weremade homeless with entire villagesflattened across many districts of thecountry. Centuries-old buildings weredestroyed at UNESCO World Heritagesites in the Kathmandu Valley, includingin Kathmandu’s Durbar Square, the PatanDurbar Square, the Bhaktapur DurbarSquare, the Changu Narayan Temple andthe Swayambhunath Stupa.Geophysicists had warned for decadesthat Nepal was vulnerable to a deadlyearthquake, particularly due to itsgeology, recent urbanisation andarchitecture.

Continued aftershocks occurredthroughout Nepal within 15-20 minuteintervals, with one shock reaching amagnitude of 6.7 on 26 April at

12.54 NST. Landslides across thecountry were triggered, hampering reliefefforts. The largest aftershock occurredon 12 May 2015 at 12.51 NST with amagnitude of 7.3 – many consider this asecond earthquake. The epicentre wasnear the Chinese border between thecapital of Kathmandu and Mount Everest.More than 200 people were killed andmore than 2,500 were injured by thishuge aftershock.

To date, there have been more than440 aftershocks with a magnitude of 4+,although these have lessened in numberand intensity in recent weeks.

The Scale of the Challenge The earthquake and its aftershocks killedmore than 8,800 people in Nepal andinjured over 23,000. The majority ofdeaths occurred in the larger towns as theresult of collapsing buildings; in the ruralareas the death toll was comparatively lowas people were outdoors working in thefields. Although over 32,000 classrooms

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were destroyed, relatively few childrendied because the earthquake occurred on aSaturday when schools were closed. Intotal, 13 British Gurkha veterans, or theirwidows, lost their lives in the earthquake.It was estimated that over 3 million peoplehave been displaced.

Thousands of houses were destroyedacross the affected districts. To date, theTrust knows of over 2,200 ex-Servicemen’s or widows’ homes thathave been damaged, of which many aretotally destroyed.

The majority of health posts in theaffected districts no longer exist. Add tothis the damage to water systems,sanitation programmes and electricaldistribution networks and the scale ofdestruction becomes clearer. The lack ofa communications infrastructure, togetherwith poor weather conditions anddamaged transport systems, has hinderedrelief efforts. There are severe shortagesof labour and all raw building materials,while families have lost both their cropsand livestock.

The Trust’s immediate ResponseThe Trust is uniquely placed to supportthe national relief effort. We have:• An extensive network of 34 operational

bases across the Himalayan foothills• An extremely mobile workforce totalling

around 350 members, almost all Nepaliand many of them ex-Gurkhas

• An intimate local knowledge andestablished understanding with theNepali Government

• Strong operational links with theserving Brigade of Gurkhas, whoseskilled troops are working alongsideour own specialist teams

• Well-established local implementingpartners

• A long-term commitment to Nepal,which is and always will be our homeThe Trust made its 21 Area Welfare

Centres (AWCs) immediately available toother aid organisations, the NepaleseGovernment and the local communities.AWC Bagmati in Kathmandu providedemergency accommodation for around 50people made homeless or fearful ofaftershocks. The Trust deployed itswelfare and medical staff to those areasof greatest destruction.

Patrol teams of one medical staffmember, a welfare officer and at leasttwo support staff were deployed toremote villages to assess damage andreport this information to the centralcoordinating relief body, to check on thewellbeing of our direct beneficiaries andprojects and to provide emergencymedical aid, relief supplies and shelter toearthquake victims.

Each relief pack consisted of atarpaulin, blankets, floor mats, food,water and cooking utensils. In the initialmonths, the Trust distributed over 1,400such packs and helped construct over2,000 temporary shelters.

In addition to the large-scaledestruction to homes, 84 of our drinkingwater projects and 145 of our supportedschools are damaged. Our Area WelfareCentre in Jiri that had only opened inJanuary 2015 sustained such extensive

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damage that it was unsafe to use; ourWelfare Centres in Lamjung and Gorkhawere also damaged, although to a lesserdegree. A replacement Centre in Jiri hasrecently been built.

Looking ForwardThe monsoon has arrived. Its rains makemoving goods and any rebuilding in thehills extremely difficult. We arecurrently focused on providing temporaryhomes to protect ex-Servicemen and theirfamilies from the torrential downpours.Shelter packs consisting of corrugatediron sheets, wood, nails and tools arebeing given to all those made homeless.We are also planning the long-termresponse to the disaster, once the rainssubside. This will include:• Rebuilding homes• Repairing damaged schools and water

projects• Financial support for affected veterans• Enhancing our Medical Programme to

provide greater outreach healthcareand improved diagnosisOn top of our earthquake related

operations, we must also maintain all ourroutine welfare activities – the paymentof a monthly Welfare Pension and caringfor the medical needs of our 6,323veterans and widows; the running of ourtwo 26-bed Residential Homes (whichfortunately were not damaged); andsupporting Mobile Medical Camps thatprovide free medical care in remote ruraldistricts of Nepal.

The Trust’s Earthquake ResponseFund, launched in the aftermath of thefirst large quake, has already raised over£3 million. The Trustees also made animmediate commitment of £2 million ofTrust funds, of which £500,000 hasalready been spent.

With an average cost of £2,000 -£3,000 to rebuild a permanent home toearthquake resistant standards, £2.5m -£3.7m will be needed to fund theVeterans’ Homes Rebuilding Programme,with a further £1m to repair those homesless damaged. With funds needed torepair schools, water schemes, medicalposts and wider infrastructure projects,we estimate that the Trust will require£10m over the next two years to rebuildthe homes and communities of ourGurkha veterans.

The Gurkha Welfare Trust is a Servicecharity with strong governance, a deepknowledge of Nepal and an experiencedpresence on the ground. Those who giveus support can have confidence that alltheir money will go directly to where it ismost needed, with all expenditurecarefully assessed and audited by theTrust’s field team.

The Trust’s Commitment Disastrous events in very poor andpolitically developing nations such asNepal often become a long drawn-outchain of events in that one disaster feedsinto another for years or even decades tocome.

The after-effects of an earthquakeaffects a myriad of apparently unrelatedaspects: human trafficking, labour costsand availability, rental and property cost

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burdens, urbanisation, private and publicdebt burdens, mental health, politics,tourism, as well as disease and healthcaresystem damages, and further localdisasters that come with the monsoonseason.

The first monsoon related effects werea landslip on 11 June has claimed 53lives, meanwhile a glacial lake has burstin the particularly hard hit Solukhumbhudistrict. Whether or not the quakecontributed to such events is unknownand as yet un-researched, but it remains apossibility.

This year is the 200th Anniversary ofGurkha service to The Crown. OurBrigade of Gurkhas boasts 26 holders ofthe Victoria Cross (13 to British Officers,13 to Gurkhas). These awards epitomisethe distinguished service which that hascemented the Gurkhas’ place in theBritish public’s heart, and indeed those ofmany others around the world.

Nepal as a nation, and our Gurkhas,have supported the United Kingdom over200 years in countless conflicts acrossthe globe. We have a moral obligation tosupport them now, and in the many yearsto come, as they confront this disasterwith its harrowing and enduring

implications for the nation and its entirepeople.

A Personal View I opened with the thought that the oldNepal could be lost forever. Post ourvisit that statement deserves a degree ofperspective. Lives have been lost and thepersonal memories and love that havegone with them cannot be replaced. Fornow the traditional landscape of thefoothills of Nepal will remain anunsightly tapestry of glaring yellowtarpaulins under each of which wouldhave been a home but for now, as themonsoon passes, those families who havesurvived the earthquake now seek shelterfrom the further eroding elements.

As for the rest, I should have knownbetter and had greater faith in thosewhom I have had the privilege to leadand command. I should have expectedthat their loyalty to one another, theirfamilies and their way of life, would havegalvanised them to face this disaster asthey have faced other calamities that theirnation’s landscape and daily life trials sooften bestow upon them.

As the welcome ceremonies took theircourse, so did those of farewell, and onein particular by one of our Area WelfareOfficers. He stood beside what had beenhis Area Welfare Centre, which was nowrubble. There was nothing standingaround him above waist height, while hisonce carefully managed files were lyingin neat rows on a grassy bank drying outin the sunshine. He stood dressedsomehow immaculately in his regimentalmufti. By tradition, he wished to presentus with a departing gift. He passed toeach of us a jar of the remaining honeysourced from his Centre’s beehive. Tohave refused such a gift would have but

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added to his well-disguised anxiety. As the AWOs steadfast figure slowly

dwarfed as we departed, one was leftwith a huge sense of pride that our ex-Servicemen their families and indeedtheir local communities, are in the noblehands of many such AWOs across Nepal.If we give them the guidance and theresources to mend their lives and theirnation, then all that we knew andremember of Nepal will not have beenlost, and the nation and its people willrecover their rightful pride and dignity.

As William and I prepare to return toNepal next week to continue our work,my jar of the AWO’s honey remainsmuch enjoyed. It sits in a pride of placeon our kitchen windowsill at home. Thereit serves as a daily reminder of thegenerosity and courage, endurance,patience and light hearted resolve of ourGurkha ex-Servicemen and their families,

and, importantly, the work still to bedone by our Trust to support them andtheir wider communities in the hardyears, which lie ahead.

(This article was written by Col Hayesfor ‘Pennant’ the journal of the ForcesPension Society. I am grateful to theeditor of ‘Pennant’ for permission toreproduce this piece. The Forces PensionSociety was very supportive and printedan earthquake picture on the front coverof their journal which greatly helped topublicise the event. Ed.)

ADVERTISEMENTS IN THE JOURNAL

Why not advertise in the Britain-Nepal Society Journal.

There is a membership with a large range of interests related to Nepal.

You never know who may be interested!

Please contact Mr BP Joshi at:bpjoshi1@hotmail.com

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THE BRITAIN – NEPAL MEDICAL TRUST RESPONSE TO THE EARTHQUAKEBy Dr Gillian Holdsworth, Co-Chair BNMT

When we heard the terrible news on April25th about the earthquake (magnitude 7.8on the Richter scale) our immediatethoughts were for the safety and wellbeingof those who we know in Nepal and inparticular in Kathmandu. Our director wasin the UK with her daughter – due toreturn to Kathmandu on the day of theearthquake and unable to do so untilTuesday the following week. The anxietythey both experienced separated fromfriends and loved ones was palpable asnews started coming through about thedeath and destruction.

As our director passed throughTribhuvan airport on the night of April28th, she messaged me sending pictures ofthe baggage collection area in the airportwhich was chaotic – with medical teamsfrom six countries including Mexico,Poland, Japan, Philippines – all processingthrough customs with no idea where theirintended destination was. It all felt a bit outof control.

Nepal straddles a geological fault linewhere the Indian plate meets the Eurasianplate resulting in the formation of thespectacular Himalayan range – so wealways knew they were likely toexperience a devastating earthquake at

some point – but hoped that it wouldn’t bejust yet.

The earthquake affected 39 districts; thefourteen worst hit included Kathmandu,Rasuwa, Ramechhap, Lalitpur,Sindhupalchowk, Dhading, Gorkha,Bhaktapur, Nuwakot, Dolakha, Sindhuli,Makwanpur and Kavreplanchowk. Thedisaster claimed the lives of almost 9000people and injured over 22,000. Of all thepeople who lost their lives, 56% werefemale, the majority being children underten years of age. The loss of life wouldhave been much greater if the earthquakehad struck during night time. In addition tothe deaths, physical destruction and loss oflivelihoods, many people were left withpost traumatic stress disorder – made worseby the fact that earthquake tremors keptcoming and continue to do so even now.

Given the scale of the disaster, BNMTrealized it had a responsibility to assistaffected communities and use its widenetwork of partner organisations to helpbring in the most appropriate services. Ourmain plan was to do what we do best:work with local communities, supportingthem with shelter, food, water and first aidand referral to acute services whenrequired.

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Damaged temple. Damage near the Durbar Square.

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Once the Ministry of Health andPopulation with support from WorldHealth Organisation established the HealthEmergency Operating Centre, BNMTactively participated in the nationalresponse. This mechanism ensured acoordinated response with governmentagencies, international and nationalorganisations, local stakeholders andcommunity based agencies – to avoidduplication of effort and ensure that helpreached those who needed it most.

BNMT has contributed to theearthquake response work of the Ministryof Health and Population with provision ofmedical supplies for distribution in someof the remote mountain districts,conducting health camps for earthquakevictims in some of the fourteen mostaffected districts, construction ofcommunity toilets for tented camps aroundthe Kathmandu valley and provision ofpsychosocial counseling for survivorstraumatised by their experience.

Immediately after the earthquake, aBNMT team went to Bhaktapur, one of theworst affected areas in Kathmandu valley.Aside from the destruction of many of themonuments in the main Durbar square – aUNESCO world heritage site andimportant tourist attraction – there were15,000 families rendered homeless who arenow housed in 42 tented camps in and

around the city. BNMT found that peoplewere scared and confused, women andchildren complained of many physicalsymptoms: rapid heartbeat, dizziness, aninability to eat and sleep and frequenttearfulness. Men were angry and feltpowerless to protect and care for theirfamilies. Neighbours and family membershad lost their lives. Hopes and dreams aswell as home comforts were buried in therubble. It was clear that survivors were intremendous need of mental and emotionalsupport but were not getting it.

After consultation with the Nepalesegovernment – BNMT set out to providepsychosocial support to people in threedistricts: Makwanpur, Kathmandu andBhaktapur. BNMT has since supportedmany communities with counselingsupport, trained Female Community HealthVolunteers giving them the skills tomaintain ongoing counseling support in theareas we have worked in. In additionBNMT has provided training for otherorganisations so that provision of postdisaster psychosocial counseling can beavailable more widely amongstcommunities across all affected districtsthat need it.

In the immediate aftermath of theearthquake relief agencies set up temporarytoilets for many of the tented camps in andaround the Kathmandu valley. This wasTented camp in Kathmandu.

Equipment at the airport.

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really important as both the populationpressures within the valley and theimpending monsoon meant it wasimportant to ensure at least basic sanitationfacilities were available for the displacedand homeless. Lack of sanitation poses abig threat of diarrhoeal and other infectiousdiseases spreading. BNMT knows fromprevious work that there is a real need toaddress gender in toilet and sanitaryprovision – ensuring security, privacy anddignity for women, girls and children. Thishas become an even bigger challenge inthe stressed environments that manypeople currently live in. BNMT has beenworking through local government oversite selection and engineering design forthe construction of community toiletblocks for the tented camps in and aroundthe Kathmandu valley. A users committeeis formed at each camp and charged withthe responsibility for the building work andoversight for the maintenance of theconstruction subsequently and ourcollaboration with local governmentensured that the toilet blocks all have awater supply. By working with localcommunities in this way we assure local

ownership of the building now and into thefuture.

BNMT’s earthquake relief initiativeassisted communities in seven of the worstaffected districts with the distribution offood and other relief goods including tents,tarpaulins and blankets. BNMT prepared arelief bucket containing supplies to last theaverage household at least one week. Ourrelief buckets included salt, rice, biscuits,beaten rice, instant noodles, lentils, soyabeans, tea, sugar, cooking oil, oralrehydration solution and sanitary pads.

As one of the country’s longest standinghealthcare organisations, BNMT alsosought to provide medical assistance tovictims and survivors in earthquakeaffected areas. The Trust organized healthcamps in hard to reach communities,bringing in doctors and nurses to treatfractures, sprains, cuts, wounds andwaterborne infection. We have worked incollaboration with a range of organisationsimplementing our health camps including,amongst others, German Rotary VoluntaryDoctors, Nepalese Nursing Association UK

As Co-Chair of BNMT I workedtirelessly on fundraising and keeping all ofour supporters informed of what we weredoing for the first few months after theearthquake. In August I had theopportunity to visit Kathmandu and see atfirsthand the impact of our work. Overall,Kathmandu appeared to have survivedrelatively unscathed. Many of the muchvisited and loved monuments of the valleyare obviously badly damaged – mostnotably the Durbar squares,Swayambunath temple and the Bhimsentower. There were still a few peoplecamping on the Tundikhel and as Itravelled around the valley I saw sometented camps. But nothing like the scale ofdisplacement that was evident inBhaktapur. One camp, established on thePatient with twins.

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brick floor in what is the site of BisketJatra (where Nepalis celebrate their NewYear), where all the tent floors flooded inevery monsoon downpour as there was nosoakaway for the water. There was one pitlatrine shared by 245 families and theNepal Red Cross tankered water in everyday for washing and cooking. It was herethat I met a young mother with 17-day oldtwins who was living under tarpaulin withfive other families. Speaking to her shewept as she recounted her experienceduring the earthquake and being pulledfrom the rubble of her home. She worriedfor her future and the future of her twinboys as she has nowhere to live and notenough milk to feed them. She requestedhelp in the form of bottled milk, but in thisenvironment giving bottled milk to babiescreates a significant risk of life threateningdiarrhoeal disease. BNMT were able toprovide her with a 12 man tent for herfamily, provide her with nutritional supportso she would be able to continue to breastfeed her twins and have constructed acommunity toilet block with a watersupply for residents of the camp.

I was also able to participate in aBNMT health-camp at Sipaghat inSindhupalchowk, about five hours drive

from Kathmandu. I had worked as a fielddoctor for BNMT from 1986-89 and in1988 there was a big earthquake which hiteastern Nepal. What struck me then, andagain this year is the nature of thedestruction, how one valley can beunscathed and the neighbouring valleyexperience total destruction. As wetravelled along the road towards Sipaghatwe saw the occasional cracked house orwall being supported, but when we crossedthe pass into the Indravati river valley thedevastation was overwhelming. Over 85%of properties had been destroyed andfamilies were living under corrugated ironor in tents. Here we worked in partnershipwith staff from the local healthpost toprovide medical supplies and clinicalservices including general medical,orthopaedic, paediatric and obstetricsconsultations. More than 450 local peopleattended the clinics that day and we sawrespiratory problems, skin diseases,fractures, sprains and diarrhoeal disease.But talking to people there, they describedan overwhelming sense of loss and it wasvery clear that these are people who havebeen deeply traumatised by theirexperience.

Nepal has made remarkable progress inhealth over the years with substantialachievements towards the health relatedMillennium Development Goals. However2015 has created significant challenges notjust with the earthquake and multipleaftershocks, but the continued politicalunrest following the passing of the newconstitution and the ongoing economicblockade by India. The reconstruction ofhomes and services and rebuilding of liveswill take many years; however, BNMTwill continue to support the people ofNepal in their quest to ensure health andwellbeing amongst all the communitieswith whom we work.Male patient with medicine.

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NEPAL’S JOURNEY TO A NEW REPUBLICAN AND FEDERALCONSTITUTION AND THE MAJOR EARTHQUAKE OF APRIL 2015(Professor Surya P. Subedi, OBE, MA, LLM, DPhil, Barrister-at-Law; Professor of

International Law, University of Leeds; Founder Chairman of the Britain-Nepal AcademicCouncil and Co-Chair of the Britain-Nepal Medical Trust)

For a small Himalayan state, Nepal hasgone through more than its share oftragedies in recent years, both natural andman-made. Owing to the politicalmismanagement, the country has seen thepolitical system crumble and democraticinstitutions in tatters for some years.Adding to these man-made tragedies, thecountry was hit by a major earthquake inApril 2015 resulting in a massive disasterfor the country. Nepal as a state hasexisted in various forms for more than2,500 years and has been a tourist magnetbecause of the mountains and picturesqueancient temples dotted around theKathmandu Valley.

It was heart rending to see the scale ofdevastation in my birthplace. I haveregarded my native country as the land ofholy mountains. When I was growing upI could see the majestic views from mybedroom window every morning. Theywere so uplifting. My father was ascholar of Sanskrit and was a universalistin his approach to life. These values werehighly influential in my formative years.Seeing the images of destruction after theearthquake made me very sad andnostalgic. The temples that had stood thetest of time have fallen, and the wholeKathmandu Valley looked like a war-torncity.

There have been reports that theKathmandu Valley and the mountainshave moved by about one metre north-west due to the movement of the tectonicplates beneath the hills of Nepal and

since not all energy was released duringthe earthquake western Nepal and/orIndia may experience an earthquake of agreater magnitude in the near future.

The task ahead of relief operations andthe reconstruction of the severelydamaged infrastructure was daunting.The country, which had been ruined bypolitical mismanagement, had been hithard by a natural calamity. These weretesting times for Nepal and Nepalesepolitical leaders. Since the Nepalese arean immensely resilient people, there wasno doubt that they would start to recoverfrom this tragedy and they have. Theinternational community has come to therescue of Nepal with a big heart.Tremendous goodwill towards Nepal wasdemonstrated by the internationalcommunity and especially both of itslarge neighbours, China and India, andtraditional allies such as the UK, the USAand Japan. The UK had been the largestbilateral donor to Nepal and thegenerosity displayed by the Britishpeople in the aftermath of the disasterwas heartening. The British peopleresponded generously to the call forassistance by the Disaster EmergencyCommittee (DEC) consisting of majorBritish charities such as the Oxfam,British Red Cross and Save the ChildrenUK. They also responded enthusiasticallyand generously to the call for appeal bythe Britain-Nepal Medical Trust (BNMT)and the Britain-Nepal Society and theresources generated were mobilised to

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provide immediate rescue and reliefoperation in Nepal. One of thememorable events that the BNMTorganised to raise funds was an epic100km walk along the picturesque southcoast of England in July 2015 which wasjoined by the present author, his fellowCo-chair of the BNMT Dr GillianHoldsworth, the former BritishAmbassador to Nepal, Andy Sparks, andother committed British friends of Nepal,including Nicky and Paula Willmore,Rosemary Blandy and Shona Duncan.The following is a photograph of thecrew taken near the Seven Sisters whitecliffs in a fine sunny morning along thewalk.

But the country needs more than theresilience of its population and the helpof the international community. It needsgood governance and a responsible,transparent and non-corrupt government,led by people with a vision, foresight andwisdom. But this is what has beenmissing in Nepal for some time. It wasbecause of this that the country was ill-prepared to deal with such a massiveearthquake.

Of course, no one can predict naturaldisasters such as an earthquake, and nopreparations can ever be adequate to deal

with the aftermath of a disaster of suchmagnitude. But there were warnings thatdue to the fault lines running across theNepal Himalayas, powerful earthquakeswere likely to hit the country. There werecalls for some degree of preparedness forsuch an eventuality. But the chaos andlack of adequate preparedness that wehave witnessed in the streets ofKathmandu and the rural areas in theaftermath of the earthquake was atestimony to the failure of the politicalelite in the country. However, the longer-term challenge of reconstruction is amore daunting one, and the quality of thepolitical elite that runs the country doesnot offer much hope. Therefore, theinternational community should do itsutmost to ensure that the financialassistance extended to Nepal is put togood use in a transparent manner and theprocess of reconstruction of the countryis underpinned by good governance.

Nepal had been a monarchy until adecade ago. The foundation of the 240-year-old Shah dynasty was shaken tothe core by the royal massacre in 2001, inwhich King Birendra and nine othermembers of the royal family weregunned down. The only surviving brotherof the late king was Gyanendra, who

ascended to the throne in theaftermath of the tragedy. But hemade a series of blunders thatresulted in the abolition of themonarchy itself in 2007.

Another force that waswrecking the country was theMaoists, who had been creatingterror in the rural areas since 1996and intensified their campaign inthe aftermath of the royalmassacre. The Maoist insurgencyled to the death of 17,000 people

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and the disappearance of scores of others.When the Maoists were eventuallybrought into mainstream politics througha comprehensive peace agreement, therewas a ray of hope that this politicallymismanaged and economicallyimpoverished country would start tobenefit from the peace dividend andwitness economic growth and prosperity.But the politicians lacking in vision,foresight and wisdom filled the powervacuum created by the abolition of themonarchy. The old values had crumbleddue to the political upheavals, and newdemocratic values had not yet taken rootin the society. The country elected aconstituent assembly to write a newrepublican constitution for the country;but due to constant bickering among thepoliticians, driven mainly by pettyinterests, the assembly was dissolvedwithout writing a new constitution. Aftera period of meaningless politicalsquabbles, the country finally elected anew constituent assembly, for the secondtime, to write a new constitution. Thechallenges to the new ConstituentAssembly was to enshrine in theConstitution the transformation from amonarchy to a republic, from a unitarysystem to a federal system and from thefirst-past-the post system to a mixedsystem of proportional representation andfirst-past-the-post system to electmembers of parliament. Each of themwould be a daunting task in any countryand Nepal was attempting to deal with allthree at the same time. The massiveearthquake and the daunting task ofrebuilding the infrastructure seem to havejolted the squabbling political elite andgalvanising them into action to finalise anew constitution for the country.Consequently, the Assembly finally

adopted a new Constitution in September2015 enshrining all these three elementsand in doing so enshrined other principlesdesigned to make the governance of thecountry more inclusive, participatory anddemocratic.

There is now a ray of hope that thecountry will experience political stabilityso badly needed to usher the countrytowards economic development andprosperity for all. Of course, the newconstitution is not a perfect document byany standards and there have alreadybeen some teething problems with itsimplementation. Many Madeshi leadersfrom the south who boycotted theConstituent Assembly demanding, interalia, a stronger and larger federal statealong the Madhesh belt, began agitationagainst this new Constitution. But it washoped that their demands will beaddressed through political dialogue andthe new constitution approvedoverwhelmingly by the ConstituentAssembly will be amended and thecountry will be ushered into an era ofpolitical stability and economicdevelopment. Thank God, after getting aseries of bad news from Nepal for sometime, including the killings and harrowingaccounts of atrocities during the Maoistinsurgency, the royal massacre and theearthquake, there is now some positivenews starting to come out of Nepal. Maythis long continue!

(This article draws on some of thematerial in an article entitled ‘What isMissing in Nepal’ that the authorpublished as an op-ed piece for the CNNon 28 April 2015:http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/28/opinions/subedi-nepal-earthquake/index.html)

THE BALING PEACE TALKSBy Dennis Wombell

(The author left school and went directlyinto the army as a private soldier at theLight Infantry Depot. Selected for officertraining, he was considered to be tooyoung to start this training immediatelyso elected to spend six months with hisregiment, the King’s Own Yorkshire LightInfantry,(KOYLI) then in Malaya onoperations as a result of the MalayanEmergency. After a period of ’junglebashing’ with his battalion he wasinterviewed as a possible candidate tojoin the expanding Malayan Police FieldForce as a Police Lieutenant. The KOYLIwere to be transferred to Cyprus soWombell volunteered to join the King’sShropshire Light Infantry) (KSLI) then inKorea. Before he could leave for Koreahe contracted malaria and washospitalized. Whilst in hospital histransfer to the Malayan Police wasconfirmed with the result that he foundhimself as a commander of a platoon ofMalays in what was known as a FederalJungle Company. He served for a numberof years in the Police Field Forceincluding time as company 2ic of anFMP Gurkha Company. He was involvedwith cross-border operations intoThailand and as the emergency came toan end he retired from the Police andbecame a rubber planter for a furtherseventeen years. As he pointed out onemosquito bite had changed the course ofhis life. His son, Col Wombell, is a retiredBrigade officer.)

In 1955, the MCP realised that theirmilitary campaign had failed and ChinPeng made approaches to the governmentproposing peace talks.

Following an initial exchange ofletters between the government and TheCentral Committee of The MalayanCommunist Party, and two preliminarymeetings between the representatives ofboth, the first at Klian Intan, a villageclose to the Thai border and the next in atent on Kroh airfield, it was agreed thattalks would be held between leaders onboth sides in an attempt to negotiate apeace settlement and bring to an end theCommunist insurrection throughout thecountry. As a result of these meetings itwas agreed that the peace talks wouldcommence on the 28th of December andwould be held at a local school in thenearby small town of Baling. TheCommunists announced their intention ofemerging from the jungle on the morningof the 28th at a hilltop tin mine, GunongPaku, near Klian Intan, approximately 20miles from Baling.

This being our area of operations, itfell to 2nd Field Force to put in hand thenecessary security procedures for theduration of the talks. These were,essentially, to secure the Gunong Pakusite where the Communists were toemerge from the jungle, and, secondly toconduct Chin Peng and his party safely toBaling and to return them to the jungleupon the termination of the talks. Thislatter tasks was given me with myplatoon.

In the preliminary negotiations atKroh, it was agreed that Chin Peng andhis party would be accompanied to thejungle edge by a large force of about ahundred terrorists who would establish a

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camp in the jungle edge close to placewhere Chin Peng was to emerge, andremain there for the duration of the talks.The government agreed to give this forcean amnesty for this period and for a tenday period following the cessation of thetalks should they fail. A guarantee wasgiven that the terrorists would not bepursued until this period had elapsed, andthe government also agreed to supply theentire terrorist contingent with armyrations plus an additional daily ration ofrice for the period of the talks and for theten days during which they were to beallowed to clear the area.

There was a great deal of eageranticipation amongst the officers whowere to secure the Gunong Paku area. Itwas envisaged that a line ofcommunication would be opened upbetween the two camps - the communistcamp in the jungle and the Field Forcecamp on the tin mine hilltop, with a fieldtelephone line between the two and agood deal of coming and going withrations and supplies. This was afascinating prospect for those of us whohad spent the last several years in thejungle, hunting down this elusive enemy,of whom we had caught only momentaryglimpses in the short sharp fire fightswhich were typical of the type of warfarein which we were engaged. Alas, this wasnot to be. When Chin Peng emerged fromthe jungle, he insisted that the promisedfood and supplies  for the entire period ofthe talks and the following amnestyperiod be carried a short way into thejungle and stacked there for his force tocollect unseen.

On the 28th of December, the daybefore the talks were to commence, Imoved with my my Company from our

detachment in Kroh to Gunong Paku, ahigh hill which had been mined for tinand was cut into wide step-like terraces.It was a hot, dry and inhospitable moon-like landscape consisting of stony redvolcanic laterite, rock and shale, withoutas much as a blade of grass growing on itand it was bordered at the foot on oneside by the primary jungle from whichChin Peng was to emerge.

The main body of the Companyestablished a position of all-rounddefence on the uppermost terrace circlingthe summit of the hill, erected theirjungle ‘bashas’ and prepared themselvesto remain there until the end of the talks.I stood by with my platoon in preparationfor Chin Peng’s arrival. Although thereostensibly for escort duty, for which wewore jungle green and carried only sidearms and bren guns, we had, tucked awayin our armoured vehicles and out of sight,our full scale of equipment - weapons,extra ammunition, grenades, maps of thesurrounding area and the Thai border andfour days rations, in readiness for animmediate and prolonged jungleoperation, should we be attacked at anypoint during or after the talks. Iassembled my platoon, with our vehicles,on a flat area on the summit of the hilland joined the group of officers awaitingChin Peng’s arrival - AssistantCommissioner T.B.Voice, the Ops Officerwith overall administrative responsibilityfor the talks; Geoffrey Turner, the Officerin charge of the local Police District;John Penley, the Field Force CompanyCommander; and a Police LieutenantOllerearnshaw, responsible for theplatoon on the hill. Lastly, but the mostimportant man there, was John Davis,specifically asked for by Chin Peng and

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known as the Conducting Officer. At thistime John Davis was the District Officer,Butterworth, but during the war he hadserved with Force 136 and had beenparachuted into the jungle to assist theMalayan Peoples Anti Japanese Army, intheir guerrilla war against the occupyingJapanese army. He was much respectedand totally trusted by Chin Peng, whoasked that John Davis accompany him atall times, from his emergence from thejungle and until his return, to guaranteehis safety.

At the appointed time we all stood inrelative silence and with considerableapprehension, wondering whether ChinPeng really would turn up when,suddenly, two lone figures appeared atthe jungle edge and picked their way upthe steep side of the hill, watched insilence by the armed multitude lookingdown on them from the summit. It musthave been a daunting experience for themand required a great deal of courage.Leading the two was a very slight youngChinese male, dressed, not as weexpected in MCP khaki drill uniformwith green cloth pointed cap, knee-lengthputtees and rubber-soled canvas boots,but in clean, plain white long-sleevedshirt and long khaki trousers. He spokegood English, introduced himself as ChenTien, Chin Peng’s second-in-command,and informed us that Chin Peng and therest of the party were following andwould arrive within the next ten minutesor so. The Chinese male with him wassimilarly dressed and was guide,companion and orderly. Shortlyafterwards a line of figures emerged fromthe jungle and slowly climbed the hilltowards us. We all knew Chin Peng bysight and recognised him immediately as

he greeted his old friend, John Davis,with great warmth. The atmosphere wasfriendly and relaxed, although, inretrospect, it must have been a tensemoment for Chin Peng, knowing as hewould have done, the price on his head!He then introduced his group - ChenTien; Rashid Mydin, the Malayrepresentative; Tan Kwee Cheng, LeeChin Hee and Sanip. The last three beingguides, aides and orderlies.

Due to the difficulty of the terrain, ourtransport from the top of the hillconsisted of two Ferret Scout cars witharmoured turrets and two GMC’s. Theselatter vehicles, which were universallyused as personnel carriers by theMalayan Police during the Emergencyyears, were completely armoured, exceptfor the back  which was open and wherethe armour was only waist high. Beingopen, they were extremely hot, and,having no seating, they were veryuncomfortable; they were, however, withtheir powerful engines and large wheels,capable of negotiating the roughest tracksand these were the vehicles used totransport the Communist group the oneand a half miles to the main Baling road.There, we were met by two open-sidedBedford vans with bench seats, intowhich we transferred John Davis, ChinPeng and the remainder of his entourage,for the rather more comfortable twenty-mile journey along the tortuous jungleroad to Baling. The two Bedford vanstravelled between the two GMC’scarrying the escort party and I travelledin the turret on the leading scout car, theother scout car, armed with a bren gun,following at the tail of the convoy.

I shall never forget the sight whichmet us as we approached the gates of the

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school in Baling in which the talks wereto be held. There was a crowd of two orthree hundred people, Malays, Chineseand Indians, with, in front of them, anarmy of reporters and photographers. Inthose days, in a country fighting a warand in which such assemblies were,strictly speaking, highly illegal, I hadnever seen anything like it. Nor in thosedays did we have any truck withjournalists or photographers. I hadactually threatened to shoot a pushyreporter who had attempted to invade theairfield during the talks at Kroh!. Theauthorities, however, turned a blind eyeto this illegal assembly on this occasionand the people in the crowd were quiet,well behaved and in a festive mood, asthey waited, almost in awe, to catch aglimpse of their national leaders and thelegendary Chin Peng.  After  stopping myescort party at the gates of the school andwaiving the two Bedford vans in,  mypart in the proceedings was over for thetime being and I took my platoon toanother local school where we madeourselves comfortable to await thetermination of the talks.

The talks, in which the governmentwas represented by Tengku AbdulRahman, the Chief Minister of the newFederation of Malaya; Dato Marshall, theChief Minister of Singapore; Dato SirCheng Lock Tan, the President of theMalayan Chinese Association and TooJoon Hing, the Assistant Minister ofEducation, ended in failure at noon onthe following day and the cessation wasannounced in a statement, hand writtenon behalf of the Communist delegationby David Marshall. After being amendedby Chin Tien (his amendments are inbrackets) it read: As soon as the (elected

government of the) Federation obtainscomplete contropl of internal security andlocal armed forces, we will endhostilities, lay down our arms anddisband our forces. (It does not amount toaccept the present amnesty terms).

I received orders to return immediatelyto the school in which the talks had beenheld and to escort the Communistdelegation back to Gunong Paku. Thereturn journey was completed withoutincident, except that Chin Peng, whoalready looked somewhat despondent atthe outcome of the talks, was somewhatirritated when I took photographs of himand his party on the return journey andwhen we changed vehicles upon arrivalat the track leading to the hilltop atGunong Paku. He complained that he hadnot agreed to photographs being takenother than the official photographs takenby the press at Baling. Knowing what theimmediate future held for him however, Iwas not too concerned and it wasinteresting, years later, to see that he hadused one of my photographs in hisautobiography!

We arrived back at Gunong Paku inthe late afternoon and to our surprise,Chin Peng, after holding a discussionwith the other members of his party,announced that it was too late to return tohis jungle base before nightfall. He askedif we would allow Chen Tien and theremainder of the group to return to thejungle that night and for him to return thefollowing morning. He also asked forChen Tien to be given a torchlight to helphim find his way back in the dark. Bythis time, we had established a fairlyfriendly rapport with the Communistleader and saw no reason to deny hisrequest; a basha was quickly erected for

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him, a blanket provided and a LandRover despatched to the local villagewhere the driver was able to purchase atorch. Chen Tien and the others thendeparted and Chin Peng remained, in thecompany of John Davis, to spend thenight in what must have been, for him,the lion’s den. After my evening mealand whilst wandering about on thesummit of the hill watching the sun godown he joined me for a little while andwe engaged in small talk. We studiouslyavoided discussing our mutualprofessions, the only thing I remember ofour conversation is that he asked me howlong I had been in Malaya and whether I found it hot!  I never knew whether totake this literally or whether it was anallusion to my activities in the precedingyears!

The following day, waking just beforedawn and after stand-to, my men andI  had an early breakfast and quicklypacked our kit in preparation for ourreturn to our camp in Kroh. I was due togo to Hong Kong for a week’s leave andI wanted to get away as quickly aspossible, consequently we wanderedabout the hilltop waiting impatiently forChin Peng to depart and for our transportto arrive.  By this time of course, each ofmy men had, beside him, his fullcomplement of weapons and kit whichwe had carried covertly in the event ofhaving to mount an immediate offensivejungle operation. In passing the time, Istood with Ollerearnshaw on the edge ofthe hill, open map case in hand, pointingtowards the distant jungle hills anddiscussing with him the operations I hadcarried out or been involved over theprevious couple of years. The sight of mein jungle kit, holding my carbine and

carrying, on various parts of my anatomy,a 9mm pistol, a compass, a belt ofammunition, 2 hand grenades and aparang (a Malay machete), and pointingto the jungle in the direction in which hewas about to depart, produced aninstantaneous effect on Chin Peng whoshowed distinct signs of agitation. Hewas very obviously convinced that wewere preparing to follow himimmediately and that  we would havelittle difficulty in killing him once wewere out of sight and in the jungle. Ittook some time for John Davis toconvince him that our intentions werehonourable, and, as proof of this, offeredto accompany him alone into the jungleand to stay with him for someconsiderable distance. Eventually, ChinPeng was satisfied of our good intentionsand he and Davis disappeared down thetrack from which Chin Peng and hisparty had emerged on the previousday.  We waited for about an hour untilDavis reappeared and then went ourseparate ways. The peace talks were overand I was able to leave for Hong Kongon my week’s leave,  but upon my returnI still had a job to do!

Two days after my return from leave,the amnesty period for Chin Peng and hisCommunist guerrillas was over and Ireceived orders to search the GunongPaku area in an attempt to follow theirtracks from the point at which they hadoriginally emerged from the jungle. I wasalso to investigate the area in which hislarge armed group had camped and thedump of food which had been suppliedby our own forces and stacked thirty orforty yards beyond the jungle edge.

It came as no surprise to me that therewas no communist camp and that no

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large armed group had existed. ChinPeng was no fool and knew as well as wedid that a large body of men is as easy totrack in the jungle as a double-deckerbus, and it was obvious that Chin Pengand his party had been alone.Consequently, the large food dump wasalmost untouched. A few boxes of rationshad been opened and some of thecontents removed and a quantity of ricehad also been taken. I concluded that thishad been the reason for Chen Tienleaving separately on the day before ChinPeng, since it gave them the opportunityto examine the dump at their leisure andto help themselves to as much as theycould carry. They would not havereturned after that in the expectation thatwe would ambush them.

We then followed the track alongwhich the Communists had travelled afterleaving Gunong Paku. Like all junglepaths in the vicinity of a village it waswell worn by the  local people for thefirst three or four hundred yards and easyto follow. It then petered out to becomemore typical of an animal track or theusual track made by terrorists in primaryjungle - ill defined and marked only bythe very occasional sapling cut by aparang. Neverthless, it was relativelyeasy to follow until it climbed steeply upto the high ridge marking theThai/Malaya border, where, at just over athousand feet the jungle is sparse and theground stony and bare. Tracking in theseconditions is impossible without dogs,and, given that our task was completedwe returned to Gunong Paku to be pickedup and returned to our camp in Kroh.

This marked the end of what had beenan interesting and fascinating experience,especially in meeting the man who had

become a legend in Malaya, albeit amisguided one. Knowing full well frommy own experience the hardships hemust have endured during twelve yearsof life in the jungle as a hunted man,without our advantages of regularairdrops of an unlimited supply of food,medicines, arms and ammunition, andour ready access, even in the deepest andremotest jungle, to rapid medicalassistance and, if necessary, evacuation tohospital, I had to admire his tenacity inpursuing, what was, to him, a politicalideal.

Having taken the only photographs ofChin Peng, other than those taken inBaling by the press and the officialgovernment photographers, I received arequest from the government asking forthe loan of my negatives to enable printsto be made. I thought that would be thelast I would see of them, but somemonths later, after I had left the PoliceForce and become a planter, I receivedthem back with a letter of thanks fromTengku Abdul Rahman, the PrimeMinister, and a splendid album of boththe photographs I had taken and theofficial photographs taken at Baling. Itwas ample reward, and I treasure thealbum to this day.

It was interesting to see, many yearslater, one of my photographs reproducedon page 372 of Chin Peng’sautobiography ‘My Side of History’ andattributed in the photo credits to ‘ChinPeng’s Archives’.

Lt Col Gerry Birch writes:At the end of World War II in South EastAsia there were movements in the formerEuropean colonies such as the Dutch EastIndies (Indonesia), French Indo-China

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and British Malaya that soughtindependence. The successful Japaneseinvasion and conquest of these territoriesexploded the myth of Europeansupremacy. Prior to World War II therehad been emergent colonial movementsand at the conclusion of hostilities theseorganisations gained in strength with thesupport of the local populations. Therewere quite bloody conflicts in bothIndonesia and Indo-China, in whichBritish forces were involved, includingunits of the Brigade of Gurkhas as theformer colonial administrations sought toreturn and re-establish their rule. In thecase of Malaya the main pro-independence organisation was theCommunist Party of Malaya (CPM) thathad been formed mainly from theChinese population with pre-war origins.During the war the CPM formed theMalayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army.The MPAJA were supported by theBritish Force 136 in their operationsagainst the Japanese. A leading light inthe CPM was Ong Boon, later known asChin Peng, whose father had emigratedfrom Fujian province in South-EastChina. He was awarded the OBE for hisfor his wartime service. Chin Peng took ahard line in 1948 advocating a violentarmed struggle. This led to the ‘MalayanEmergency’ which lasted beyondMalayan independence in 1957 until

1960. The operation described above wasan attempt in 1955 to bring about anamnesty but although it was clear thatMalaya was moving towardsindependence Chin Peng wanted termsthat the Malayan authorities could notagree to. His view was that the newgovernment were ‘colonial stooges’.Hence it was not until 1960 thatorganized opposition ceased. Chin Pengfled over the border to southern Thailandand subsequently went to Beijing. It wasnot until 1989 that the Malaysian andThai governments and the CPM finallysigned a peace agreement. Chin Peng,needless to say, had his OBE rescindedand was never permitted to return toMalaysia. He died in September 2013.Units of the Brigade of Gurkhas wereinvolved throughout the emergency andwith the Malayan Police Field Force borethe brunt of the campaign. In 1947 atIndian independence the Brigade wassplit between the Indian Army and theBritish Army. The British authoritiesrealized that there were still considerabledefence commitments in Asianotwithstanding the forthcoming ‘end ofempire’. This was the main raisin d‘etreof the Brigade post war, and led to theexpansion of the Brigade to include notonly infantry units but the formation ofthe corps units.

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THE SHA TAU KOK BORDER INCIDENTS – HONG KONG

Headlines:Gurkha officer who confrontedChinese forces in Hong Kong in 1967“The voice of the British Gurkhabattalion commander could be heardacross the paddy fields: “Kukris out!”Within an instant, the sun reflecting offthe steel of the Gurkhas’ curved,unsheathed knives sent a flash of brilliantlight into the sky.”

It was the defining moment in anaction that could have led to war betweenBritain and China over Hong Kong —and it instilled sheer terror into the mindsof the hundreds of Chinese troops whohad burst over the border into HongKong’s frontier village of Sha Tau Kok. They retreated.Lieutenant-Colonel Ronald McAlister,commander of the 1st Battalion 10thGurkha Rifles, had been ordered tosecure Sha Tau Kok, using minimumforce. Destined to become a general —he already had a distinguished war record— Colonel McAlister took twocompanies from his battalion, about 240Gurkhas, and advanced across mostlyopen paddy fields. With troops on eitherside of him, he marched up the roadbacked by a troop of armoured cars

provided by the Life Guards. He was tofire only if fired upon.

With Mao Zedong’s CulturalRevolution in full sway across the borderin China, pressure was mounting in HongKong; there had already been a borderincursion the previous month when acivilian mob threatened Sha Tau Kok, atiny fishing port where the border wasmarked only by a line of stones.

On July 8, about 500 Chinese troopsentered the village. They attacked thepolice post and opened fire on a policecontingent heading to the scene, killingtwo and wounding several others. A mobof armed men, believed to be Chinesemilitiamen, rushed the police post andshot dead two more officers who hadmanned loopholes in the walls. Bymidday, the incident was being reportedaround the world.

The besieged policemen sent outappeals for help. McAlister was orderedto clear the British territory of aggressors.He gave the order to his Gurkhas tounsheathe their kukris when they were300 yards from the village. Therefollowed a burst of gunfire from Chinesetroops across the border, providing coveras their comrades withdrew. Thepolicemen were released and the dead

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(This is a famous incident in the Brigade’s history of service in Hong Kong. The 1/10thGurkhas, who were involved in this incident, were commanded by Lt Col RonnieMcAlister whose obituary is elsewhere in the journal. The so-called CulturalRevolution was in full swing at this time. An incident such as that described belowcould have had catastrophic implications. Hong Kong was indefensible as was shownduring WWII and noted by Lt Gen Norton in 1940 - see book review elsewhere in thejournal. Sha Tau Kok was a small village that lay right on the border with communistChina, with the border going down the middle of a main street. The piece below istaken from sources at the time. Ed.)

and wounded evacuated. The relief ofSha Tau Kok had been achieved withouta shot being fired.

The drama of that summer was notover. A month later, soldiers manning theMan Kam To crossing point werebesieged by a howling mob whileMcAlister was visiting the small garrison.Chinese troops were positioned onlyyards away across the Shum Chun river,which formed the border. McAlister wasjoined in the wire compound by TrevorBedford, district officer for the NewTerritories, but they struggled to calm themob. Just before midnight, a gang ofarmed Chinese leapt over the fence andboth McAlister and Bedford foundthemselves with knives at their throats.After negotiations lasting all night, thetwo men were released minutes beforethe 1st Battalion 10th Gurkha Rifles wasdue to move on the compound to prevent

them from being taken into China. Thestory of the incident, naming ColonelMcAlister, was on the front page of TheTimes. A number other incidents tookplace at Sha Tau Kok and the two majorcrossing points, Man Kam To and thebridge at Low Wu.

There was considerable tension in thecolony with riots and bombs. The 2/7thGurkhas were ordered to Hong Kong tostrengthen the garrison. They toodeployed to the border in September. Tocounter Chinese propaganda broadcastsfrom loudspeakers on the Chinese side ofthe border 2/7th Gurkhas deployed theirPipes & Drums! At times during thisperiod of tension fire was exchangedwith the Chinese resulting in the use oftear gas and phosphorous grenades by theGurkhas. The tension eventually dieddown and more serious actions werestalled.

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SOCIETY TIES SCARVES AND LAPEL BADGESMrs Jenifer Evans has kindly taken on the sale of the Society ties and scarves

which cost £15.00 each including postage. They are available from her at:Bambers Mead, Lower Froyle, Alton, Hampshire GU34 4LL

or at the AGM or one of our major functions.

Miss Jane Loveless has supervised the production of a very attractive lapel badgewhich is available for sale for £3.00 at the AGM and other major functions.

51

Dr Anton Führer and General KhadgaShumsher Rana noted the presence ofarchaeological remains within a thicketof trees, close to their camp at Rumindeiin the Nepal Terai in 1896. Raised abovethe surrounding land and bounded by ameandering stream, they exposed brickrubble close to a modern shrine on thesummit of the mound and uncovered anearby stone pillar with an inscriptioncarved in Early Brahmi Script. Itrecorded that (the) “Beloved of the gods,King Piyadasi (Asoka) when 20 yearsconsecrated came to worship saying herethe Buddha Sakyamuni (Sage of theSakyas) was born”. Belonging to thecorpus of edicts erected across SouthAsia in the third century BC by theMauryan Emperor Asoka, the inscriptionconfirmed the site as Lumbini, thebirthplace of the GautamaBuddha. Dr Führer andGeneral Rana hadsuccessfully rediscoveredthe last of the four greatBuddhist pilgrimage sitesof Buddhism, Kusinagara,the place of his greatpassing away orMahaparinirvana, havingbeen identified in 1861;Sarnath, where he firstpreached his teachings ordhamma, in 1835; andBodhgaya, where heachieved his

enlightenment, in 1892. Their work atLumbini brought to a close an endeavourthat had occupied many European andSouth Asian scholars during a period ofvigorous interest in early Buddhist textsand their associated heritage andhistorical geography.

Lumbini soon became a focus forarchaeological enquiry and after thelimited excavations in 1899 by P.C.Mukherji, who also worked at the nearbysite of Tilaurakot - a candidate forancient Kapilavastu, the childhood homeof the Buddha - the site was subjected toa major phase of remodelling andlandscaping in the 1930s under thedirection of Kaiser Shumsher J B Rana.This included the rebuilding of theexterior of the main Maya Devi Templeand the formalisation of the Sakya

THE EARLIEST BUDDHIST SHRINE: EXCAVATIONS AT THE BIRTHPLACEOF THE GAUTAMA BUDDHA, LUMBINI

By Robin Coningham, Kosh Prasad Acharya and Christopher Davis

(Professor Robin Coningham is UNESCO Chair in Archaeological Ethics and Practicein Cultural Heritage, Department of Archaeologyy, Durham University. He is also the

University’s Pro Vice Chancellor. He addressed the Society on 7th May 2015.)

Location map

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Bathing Pool, as well as general clearingand the conservation of exposed brickmonuments. Unfortunately, many ofthese activities also cleared importantarchaeological deposits from around themonuments, destroying stratigraphicevidence for the development of the site.The monuments conserved during thisintervention and the pillar inscription atLumbini became central to thedevelopment of a UN Masterplan devisedby the Japanese architect Kenzo Tange atthe request of the then UN Secretary-General U-Thant in the 1960s. Later,Lumbini was inscribed as a UNESCOWorld Heritage site in 1997 on the basisthat as “the birthplace of the LordBuddha, the sacred area of Lumbini isone of the holiest places of one of theworld’s great religions, and its remainscontain important evidence about thevery nature of Buddhist pilgrimagecentres from a very early period”.

At this time, it became apparent that alarge tree located beside the Maya DeviTemple was causing structural damageand this led to a campaign of jointexcavations led by theGovernment of Nepal andthe Japanese BuddhistFederation (JBF). Theseaimed to remove the treeand expose the earliestTemple but they alsorevealed a six metre deepsequence of templesbeginning with KaiserShumsher J B Rana’sremodelled temple fromthe 1930s through to anewly exposed thirdcentury BC brick templeassociated with Asoka.One of the major

challenges following this excavation, wasthe protection of the newly exposedAsokan brickwork and the newlydiscovered ‘Marker Stone’, aconglomerate that some believe marksthe exact location of the Buddha’s birth.

Unfortunately, against therecommendations of a UNESCOMonitoring Mission, a new girder andbrick shelter was erected over the AsokanTemple in 2002. It subsequently produceda damaging micro-climate for thearchaeological remains within andincreasing pilgrim numbers to Lumbiniaccelerated the detrimental effects of thehumidity within the Temple shelter,causing further degradation of the Asokanbrickwork. In response, UNESCO, theGovernment of Nepal and the LumbiniDevelopment Trust launched a newproject in 2011 to enhance the protectionof the site and design a new conservationprogram. Funded by the Japanese-Funds-in-Trust-for-UNESCO and led byProfessor Yukio Nishimura of the TokyoUniversity, the program also undertook toevaluate the presence of subsurface early

Aerial view of the Maha Devi temple.

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archaeological sequences at Lumbini. Thearchaeological component of thisUNESCO Mission was conductedbetween 2011 and 2013 and was led byProfessor Robin Coningham of DurhamUniversity and Mr Kosh Prasad Acharyaof the Pashupati Area Development Trust.The project team comprised amultidisciplinary team of Nepali andinternational archaeological experts, whoapplied a variety of traditional andcutting-edge archaeological techniquesincluding excavation, geophysics andgeoarchaeology across the site, includinginvestigations within the Maya DeviTemple.

Although the JBF excavations hadremoved the majority of archaeologicalstratigraphy from the Temple, small areasof in situ archaeological depositsremained within the footprint of theAsokan brickwork. The cleaning back ofsome of these archaeological sectionsrevealed that cultural horizons actuallyran underneath the Asokan walls,confirming that there had been humanactivity at the site prior to Asoka’spilgrimage. Furthermore, within thecentre of the Temple, we identified anarea that had the potential to provideevidence for the structural character ofthese earlier deposits. There, runningbelow the Asokan brickwork, weidentified three successive brickpavements defined by a kerb formed bytwo rows of large bricks. Placed on edge,the bricks of the kerb were on an east-west alignment and were allexceptionally large, each measuringroughly 48 by 38 by 7 centimetres andweighing 20 kilograms. All had beenimpressed with large grooves drawn byfingers down their surface. Evidence forthis distinctive paving was found below

the footprint of the Asokan brickwork inother areas of the Temple during ourinvestigations, suggesting that the AsokanTemple had followed an earlier plan.

A further discovery within ourexcavations inside the Maya Devi Templewas the exposure of a cardinally-orientedline of postholes following the same east-west alignment directly below the brickkerb. This early posthole alignment wasthus enshrined in successive brickpavements and kerb, before finally beingincorporated within the Asokan Temple.Representing the earliest knownarchitectural phase within the Temple, thealignment appears to have comprised partof a wooden railing adjacent to acircumambulatory path that defined acentral space. Our colleagues from theUniversity of Stirling have analysed thin-section soil samples from thearchaeological deposits within this areaand suggest that the central space wasoccupied by an ancient tree – a spatialpattern replicated up to and including theMauryan period. Although suchmonuments are a common feature ofmodern Buddhist sites and are oftendepicted on ancient coins and sculpture,this is the first time that a tree shrine hasbeen scientifically identified andexcavated in Asia.

These important discoveries within theMaya Devi Temple have led to severalother major developments in thearchaeology of Buddhism. Althoughmuch is known of the Buddha’s life,there is little information provided intextual sources to help identify the exactperiod of time when the historicalBuddha lived. This has led to variouscompeting chronologies that vary fromlong chronologies, such as the Nepali andSri Lankan tradition of 623 BC, the long

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‘southern Buddhist’ chronology of 544/3BC and short chronologies between 390and 340 BC. The new evidence fromLumbini provides the first scientificdating that can contribute to this debate,with the radiocarbon measurements ofsamples from within the fills of theposthole alignment suggesting thepresence of a delineation of sacred spacewithin the Maya Devi Temple in andaround the sixth century BC. If theposthole alignment at Lumbini is relatedto the earliest veneration of the Buddhain a period close to the date of hisMahaparinivana, we may have the firstarchaeological and chronometricevidence regarding the date of hislifetime, supporting the long chronology.

Our evidence from Lumbini alsoindicates an earlier, gradual and continualdevelopment of ritual architecture atBuddhist sites, rather than the traditionalmodel that Asoka was the main driver forthe propagation of Buddhism throughoutSouth Asia. Our radiocarbon datessuggest ritual activity at Lumbini severalcenturies before Asoka’s pilgrimage andsubsequent building activities at the site,and offers the possibility that such asequence of development may haveoccurred at other major Buddhistpilgrimage sites such as Kusinagara,Sarnath and Bodhgaya. Furthermore, ourwork at Lumbini has shown that this earlyarchitecture was timber and we havesuccessfully illustrated the potential forthe discovery of non-durable architectureat other Buddhist sites if archaeologicalmethodologies penetrate belowmonuments of brick and stone. Whilstthese upper durable monuments likelyrepresent the patronage of the Mauryansand Asoka, they were not necessarily thefirst monumental constructions at such

sites and are more likely laterembellishments and new creations overexisting structures and edifices.

In addition, research implementedwithin Lumbini’s Sacred Garden,including areas outside the designatedUNESCO World Heritage Site,highlighted that the Maya Devi Templewas not an isolated monument. Indeed,our investigations included the adjacentvillage settlement, which would haveserviced the Temple complex andsurrounding monastic communities.Occupied as early as 1300 BC, longbefore the life of the Buddha, thearchaeological sequence confirms thepresence of long established humansettlement in the region, comparable toresults from the nearby site of Gotihawa,where early occupation was followed bythe construction of a brick stupa and theerection of an Asokan pillar in the thirdcentury BC.

The focus of our fieldwork has nowmoved towards the wider Natal landscapeof the Buddha, again generouslysponsored by the Japanese-Funds-in-Trust-for-UNESCO, the LDT and theHokke Shu with the support of UNESCOand the Government of Nepal. In anarticle in this Journal in 1998, wereported on non-intrusive archaeologicalinvestigations, which had successfully

Excavations within the Maha Devi temple.

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identified a previously unknownmonastery at the relic stupa of theBuddha at Ramagrama and theuncovering of part of the city ofTilaurakot’s urban plan. Our current workat Tilaurakot has furthered these findings,with geophysical survey now tracing agrid-iron street pattern across the entirecity and a previously unknown monasteryoutside to the city’s eastern gate. Thesenon-intrusive investigations have beenfollowed up with excavations that arebeginning to reveal the chronology andcharacter of the site and we eagerly awaitthe results of our laboratory analyses.Coming up to the final season of ourwork within the city in January 2016, ourresearch is shedding new light on thesociety and landscape in whichBuddhism blossomed and we hope toexpand our methodology and work toadditional sites in the Natal landscape,such as at Kudan.

Working at both Lumbini andTilaurakot has illustrated the very realtension between the promotion,protection and preservation of heritage,especially at active pilgrimage sites.Annual visitor numbers to Lumbini haveincreased from 17,000 in the year 2000 to800,000 in 2011 and there are estimatesthat such numbers will expand to2,000,000 visitors by 2020. Thedevelopment of a new internationalairport at nearby Bhairahawa will furthercontribute to increased visitor numbers.Although providing a potential catalystfor economic development, such numbersalso poses a risk to the heritage ofLumbini and Tilaurakot as well as thearchaeology of the Natal landscape withunplanned urbanisation andindustrialisation. In response, UNESCOand Durham University has recently

established a UNESCO Chair inArchaeological Ethics and Practice inCultural Heritage to evaluate theeconomic, ethical and social impacts ofcultural heritage. Working with partnersin the UK and South Asia (particularlyNepal), our archaeological interventionshope to design approaches to ascertainthe nature of subsurface archaeology atheritage sites to produce ArchaeologicalRisk Maps, which can guide themanagement and placing of infrastructureand amenities for visitors to helpfacilitate sustainable pilgrimage anddevelopment whilst protecting heritagefor the enjoyment and spiritual needs offuture generations.

The archaeological investigations atLumbini were sponsored by theJapanese-Funds-in-Trust for UNESCO,the Lumbini Development Trust, theNational Geographic Society and theUniversities of Durham and Stirling. Theteam comprises archaeologists fromDurham University, the Department ofArchaeology, Government of Nepal, theLumbini Development Trust, theUniversity of Stirling, the University ofthe Highlands and Islands and TribhuvanUniversity. The team’s current work atTilaurakot is also sponsored by theJapanese-Funds-in-Trust for UNESCOwith additional support from the HokkeShu and Lumbini Development Trust.These projects would not be possiblewithout the support of the Government ofNepal, UNESCO Kathmandu Office, theRisshon Shanti Vihara and thecommunities of Lumbini, Tilaurakot andthe Terai.

For more information about thesearchaeological projects visit:http://community.dur.ac.uk/arch.projects/lumbini/

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Expatriate Nepalis working abroadOver recent years members will haveseen reports in the press and on radio& TV concerning the treatment ofexpatriate workers in the Gulf states.Large numbers of unskilled workers findjobs in the construction industry but onarrival find poor living and workingconditions. They are often accommodatedin camps with little or no basic facilities.Some States restrict activities of suchworkers. Firms have been known toretain workers’ passports. A recent articlein Asian Affairs (journal of the RoyalSociety for Asian Affairs) highlighted theplight of such workers. Homegovernments are often reluctant tointerfere on behalf of their nationals forfear of upsetting host governments. Theconstruction of football stadia in Qatar inpreparation for the World Cup seriesparticularly attracted adverse comment inreports. The Nepalese ambassador toQatar made representations but wassubsequently recalled.

A New International Appointment forProfessor SubediAs he was about to complete his six-yearappointment as the UN human rightsenvoy for Cambodia, Professor Surya P.Subedi has been appointed by the WorldEconomic Forum in Davos, Switzerland,and the International Centre for Tradeand Sustainable Development in Geneva,as a member of a Task Force onInvestment Policy with a mandate todevelop global policy on investment. TheWorld Economic Forum in Davos is avery prestigious forum for world’spolitical and business leaders to discuss

global economic policies, challenges, andopportunities. The Task Force onInvestment Policy consists of a group ofeminent experts drawn from leadinginstitutions from around the globe. It isunderstood that Professor Subedi wasappointed on the basis of his expertise ininternational law in general and ininternational investment law in particular.He has published a book in internationalinvestment law which has becomepopular internationally. He also haspublished several other scholarly articlesin this area in prestigious professionalinternational law journals. Commentingon his appointment, Professor Subedisaid that the new appointment wouldenable him to make a contribution toglobal policy making on investment andsustainable and equitable globaleconomic growth. He is Professor ofInternational Law at the University ofLeeds and a Barrister in England.

A Request for Old Trek Maps of NepalIf you have any old trekking maps ofNepal, and no longer want to keep them,then the Flora of Nepal team at RoyalBotanic Garden Edinburgh would bedelighted to use them for their research.Naturalists have been collecting plantspecimens in Nepal for over 200 years,but most collections date from the 1950swhen Nepal opened its doors to foreignexpeditions. Today we have GPSreceivers that give our locality toastonishingly accurate levels of precision,but back in the day of these earlycollectors they had to rely on early, oftenprimitive trek maps or asking locals thenames of villages they were passing

FROM THE EDITOR’S IN-TRAY

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through and passes they traversed. Theselocality names are recorded on the labelsof the dried plant specimens, along withaltitude, collector, date and othersupporting information.The challenge that we now face is to tryand put a latitude and longitude on thesehistoric collections, so that we can mapthe localities and use the occurrence datain species distribution modelling projects.One way we have been able to do this isto try and find trek maps of the same eraas the collection and equate the names onthe maps to those on modern maps.Through this cartographic detective workwe have managed to retrospectively geo-reference many old specimens. However,some locations still baffle us, as we don’thave a complete holding of all the oldtrek and other historic maps of Nepal. Soif you have any old maps of Nepal thatare looking for a good home, then wewould be very pleased to receive them.

Please contact Mark Watson:m.watson@rbge.org.uk , Royal BotanicGarden Edinburgh, 20a Inverleith House, Edinburgh, EH35LR. 0131 248 2828.

E- Visas for IndiaMembers travelling to Nepal are wellaware of the ease of obtaining touristvisas for Nepal but those wishing to takein India will doubtless have experiencedthe bureaucracy surrounding visas forIndia. Press reports indicate that it is nowpossible to obtain an e-visa for Indiawithout the need to travel to an issuingcentre. Biometric data would be taken onarrival at one of the 16 e-visa designatedentry points to India. I doubt that this listincludes the land borders with Nepal.

DISCLAIMERResponsibility for opinions expressed in articles and reviews published

and the accuracy of statements contained therein rest soleley with the individual contributors.

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When Nepal went to the polls in late 1994a minor but extreme faction of Nepal’sfractured communist movement boycottedthem. Few observers then would havethought it likely that the Nepalese statewould within a few years be brought to itsknees by what was to become the Maoistparty. And yet by late 2008 the Maoistleader known as Prachanda was the electedPrime Minister, the 240-year-old monarchyhad been abolished and Nepal hadembarked on writing a new republicanconstitution providing for a federal state - acontentious task, still unfinished.

By the time a peace agreement wassigned in late 2006 some 16,000 Nepalishad been killed in a ‘people’s war’ - inreality a civil war: policemen, soldiers,‘class enemies’; teenagers recruited toMaoist militias and later the People’sLiberation Army; teenagers with noterrorist affiliations but picked up by asuspicious Royal Nepal Army, tortured and‘disappeared’; public officials, teachers,bus passengers, innocent bystanders. Thedeath toll kept mounting but there was amilitary stalemate.

Where had the Maoist movement sprungfrom, what sort of people were its leadersand its followers, what finally convincedthe party to sign the peace agreements,what has since been achieved by the newrepublic, what did those 16,000 die for?And is the conflict finally over or could it

erupt again under a new disaffectedgeneration?

These books, by two of Nepal’s bestyoung journalists - friends andcontemporaries - complement one anotherwell. Aditya Adhikari concentrates on therise of the Maoists, how it was that theytook the decision to come “down from thehills” (in a phrase used by an Indianacademic to describe India’s goal ofpromoting a change of Maoist tactics),abandoning guerrilla struggle to re-join thedemocratic process. Prashant Jha, whilealso providing a perfectly serviceableaccount of the Maoist rise, gives a morepersonal account of what happened next,particularly in the Terai, the narrow strip ofplains bordering India, and an in-depthexamination of India’s often contentiousrole.

Many of the Maoist leaders came fromimpoverished rural backgrounds, particularlythe Mid-West. In the 1960s and 1970s theyhad been among the first generations tobenefit from the increasing provision ofgeneral education in Nepal. A significantnumber then found employment as teachersthemselves, giving them a platform fromwhich to spread their ideology. When,following the peace agreements, the Maoistarmy was dispersed to holding camps or‘cantonments’ (where they languished forseveral more years) it was found that over4,000 – around a fifth of the verified total -

REVIEW ARTICLEDOWN FROM THE HILLS

By Dr Andrew Hall

Battles of the New Republic: A Contemporary History of NepalBy Prashant Jha. Aleph Book Company, New Delhi, 2014. Pp. 358. Pb. ISBN: 978-93-82277-99-6

The Bullet and the Ballot Box: The Story of Nepal’s Maoist RevolutionBy Aditya Adhikari. Verso, London, 2014. Pp 304. Hb. ISBN-13: 978-1-78168-564-8

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were child soldiers under the age of sixteen. The Maoist leadership showed no shame

or contrition over this waste of young lives.But the Maoist followers did not regardthemselves as the dupes of unscrupulousleaders, still less as terrorists. As far as theywere concerned they were patriots helpingto rescue Nepal from its capture by acorrupt elite who were in the pockets ofIndia. Some joined the movement out of asense of adventure, others out a sense ofhopelessness, still others seeking revengefor the wrongs their family or theircommunity had suffered at the hands of thestate. Adhikari draws on numerousmemoirs, diaries, novels, even poems andsongs, to give a strong sense of how theMaoists themselves, at all levels within theorganization, understood their struggle.

The ‘people’s war’ was launched in1996 with attacks on police stations by aragtag band armed with a couple of rustyold rifles. Quite rapidly they had increasingsuccess in capturing more weaponry andpushing the police out of poorly protectedvillages. Local political opponents weredealt with summarily or fled. Before longthe Nepalese state had shrunk to the capitalKathmandu and district headquarterstowns; the Maoists filled the vacuum in thecountryside.

Aditya Adhikari provides an admirablylucid account of the extraordinary knots theNepalese political establishment tied itselfin in trying to address the Maoist threat.Stealing a march on political opponentsalways trumped trying to agree a unitedstand on terrorism. Governments came andwent with startling rapidity. The politicizedpolice force was rarely a match for theMaoists and the Army stood firmly asidefrom the fray.

The dynamics changed after the murderof King Birendra and much of his familyby the then Crown Prince in 2001. Within

eighteen months of ascending the thronehis brother and successor Gyanendra hadtaken over executive power himself,cancelled elections and mobilized theArmy against the Maoists. But the outcomewas scarcely an improvement. Peace talkswith the Maoists failed. Human rightsabuses by the state mounted - the Army,although its numbers doubled in a shortspace of time, was neither trained norequipped for extensive counter-insurgencyoperations. Nepal’s international partners,including India, the UK and the US,became increasingly uneasy. Added towhich Gyanendra had now given thedemocratic parties cause to seek commonground with the Maoists.

India helped bring the political partiesand the Maoists together for talks in late2005 which achieved broad agreement on afuture without the monarchy and aConstituent Assembly to draft a newConstitution. In Spring the following year amassive public protest (Janandolan 2)convinced the King he had no choice but tostep aside: neither his Army nor India wasprepared to back his untenable position. Inlate 2006 peace agreements were signedwhich saw a United Nations Mission(UNMIN) invited to monitor both sides’adherence to the terms - but with nomandate to mediate.

Within weeks of the signature of thepeace agreements it looked as though theprocess might collapse, with a risk ofNepal descending into a new battlebetween the hills and the plains. Thesignatories - the Maoists and theestablished democratic parties, principallythe Nepali Congress (NC) and the UnifiedMarxist-Leninists (UML) - had contrivedto overlook the claims of one of thecountry’s most underprivileged groups, theMadhesis (plains dwellers of Indiancultural/linguistic heritage). The proposed

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interim constitution and elections for aConstituent Assembly (CA) would onlyhave entrenched the second class statuswhich had driven Madhesi support forchange. Clashes in various Terai townsduring 2007 between Maoist and Madhesigroups poured petrol on to the alreadyvolatile situation. Madhesi political partiesunited in threatening to derail theconstitutional process.

Mercifully the major parties rethoughttheir plans and introduced proportionalrepresentation in the legislature and CA,helping to assuage Madhesi fears that theywould be left out of account. But theMaoists had now lost the trust of a majorsection of the population, people one mighthave thought would be among their mostardent supporters. This was ultimately toplay a significant part in undermining theirability to govern despite winning almost 40per cent of the seats in the CA in the 2008elections.

But it was not the only cause. Equally toblame were other crass politicalmiscalculations – above all, the Maoists’attempt to dismiss the Chief of Army Staffand replace him with his Deputy and theMaoist failure, or inability, to handle thecrucial relationship with India. Prachandawas forced to resign in May 2009 after lessthan nine months in office, havingachieved little.

The 601-member Constituent Assemblyformed by the 2008 elections - and said tobe the most representative body Nepal hadever had - was given repeated extensions totry and complete its task of writing the newConstitution. It repeatedly failed, stymiedby the inability of the main politicalplayers to agree on the number, names andboundaries of new provincial divisions andon whether executive power should liewith the President or with the PrimeMinister in Parliament.

The peace parties had repeatedlyasserted that the new Constitution wouldhave to be created through consensus. Butthey seemed to have forgotten thatconsensus can only be sustained throughwillingness to compromise and there waslittle sign of that. Or more charitably, asPrashant Jha allows, each side felt thatcompromise would have meant betrayingfundamental principles of freedom, justiceand equality. There were also deeppractical difficulties in finding any way ofcarving new federal units out of Nepalwithout leaving some sections of thepopulation severely disgruntled and likelyto take out their anger on whichever partythey felt had betrayed their interests. So thestand-off continued.

Eventually time was called and in late2013 fresh elections were held - peacefullyand fairly, with a record voter turnout - fora new Constituent Assembly. The CA mayhave been new and the balance of forceswithin it had shifted - the Maoists had amuch reduced presence - but the politicalleaders were just the same and thefundamental problem of bridgingincompatible positions remained. A newgovernment was formed, the Maoist partysplit with a more extreme factionthreatening to resume armed conflict, thenew CA’s allotted year went by, markingits ending in January 2015 with a brawl inthe Assembly. But with no sign of a newConstitution. Deja vu all over again…Sometimes one suspects that stalematesuits the political establishment, and maybeIndia, better than any available alternativeoutcome: why else does the situationremain so intractable and progress solimited more than eight years after peacewas agreed?

If you read only one of these finefirsthand accounts of Nepal’s contemporaryhistory, read Aditya Adhikari to understand

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better the Maoist movement and the risksthat Nepal’s dysfunctional political systemcould provoke a similar convulsion in thefuture. Well-written, his narrative maintainsa good pace and he provides enoughsignposts to guide the reader notnecessarily familiar with some of the moretangled thickets of Nepali politics andparties.

Or read Prashant Jha for an insight intothe dynamics of often-overlooked Madhesipolitics and an understanding of the criticalrole India played and continues to play intrying to nudge/cajole/browbeat/threaten -depending on your point of view - Nepal’spolitical class towards a settlement of itsissues. Ideally, read both.

There can be few members who have notheard about or are unaware of Lt Col JohnCross, often referred to as ‘JP Cross’. Agood number will have read his books,some will have met him in Pokhara wherehe now lives and, by now, a somewhatdiminishing number will have served withhim in the Far East. He has contributed tothe journal and his books have beenreviewed in the journal. His early workswere autobiographical, describing hisunique career with the Gurkhas. He joined

1st Gurkha Rifles in 1944 and saw actionin Burma and French Indo-China. It washere that he started what was to become acareer largely devoted to counter-insurgency warfare, particularly againstcommunist guerrillas. Works such as FirstIn Last Out concern his time in Indo-Chinaat the end of the war and in Laos asDefence Attaché in the early 1970s and AFace like a Chicken’s Backside hisoperations in Malaya against thecommunist terrorists and later ‘Confrontasi’

REVIEW ARTICLEJOHN CROSS - AUTHOR AND NOVELIST

By Gerry Birch

The Throne of Stone: The Genesis of the World-famous Gurkhas. (1479 – 1559)Cost £12. Through: jpxpkr@wlink.com.np.

The Restless Quest: How Britain’s Connection with the Gurkhas began. (1746 – 1815)Special price £10. Through: www.blenheimpressltd.co.uk

The Crown of Renown: Gurkhas and the Honorable East India Company. (1819 – 1857/58) Cost £19.95. Through: hallmarkpress@googlemail.com

The Fame of the Name: How there is much more to the Gurkha than sheer courage.(1857 – 1947) Special price £14. Through: www.blenheimpressltd.co.uk

The Age of Rage: Gurkhas, Gorkhas and Nepal in the post War World(1947 – 2008) Special price £16. Through: www.blenheimpressltd.co.uk

A Face like a Chicken’s Backside. An unconventional soldier in South East Asia 1948to 1971. Under re-publication by the History Press, Nov 2015. Cost £13.99. See www.thehistorypress.co.uk . This will be reviewed in the 2016 journal.

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in Sarawak and Borneo. Having spent thewhole of his career in the Far East heretired in 1982 after a period as RecruitingOfficer for the Brigade of Gurkhas. Heremained in Nepal and for a time studied inKathmandu at Tribhuvan University. Inlater years he turned to writing historicalfiction based on the background of theexpanding British India and its connectionswith Nepal and its Gurkhas. He wrote aseries of five books covering the period1479 to 2008. In his mind he estimated thatthis project would take ten years tocomplete. The first was The Throne ofStone that covered 1479 to 1559; this wasreviewed in the journal edition no. 25,2001. It was published in 2000 and re-published in 2012. This is obtainablethrough jpxpkr@wlink.com.np. The workcovers very early history and is somethingof an historical scene-setter for the rest ofthe series. It was reviewed in the 2001edition of the journal. To quote form thereview: “Cross has used his researcheswhilst at Tribhuvan University to goodeffect providing an outline of real historicalstory events within which to weave hisplot, much based on the history researchedby Professor Regmi. The story surroundsthe inter-action between differing tribes atvarious levels in the Western hills and withthe plains people. He describes how theTibetan monks go about obtaining youngrecruits for the remote monastery and howthe traditional relationships between thevillagers of the high and middle hills andthe plains of northern India interact....Theplot centres around a small area of Nepalwhose tribal chief had, by tradition, beenproclaimed on a large stone on top of amountain, but the story stretches to Delhiand its Moslem rulers of that time. Thedramatic khud race described in the story isa true life event, and the knick in thewooden roof of the temple at Gorkha is

actually there to see. The plot is complexand requires concentration....Cross hasrealised this and provided a list of the mainplayers....there is also a chronology ofevents.”

The Restless Quest has in its extendedtitle ‘The start of the British-Gurkhaconnection in 1746 – 1815’.This work wasreviewed in the 2005 edition of the journal.To quote from that review by Col JimmyEvans: “The background is the sweep ofhistory over the seventy years which sawthe Honourable East India Companyextend its sway inexorably westwardsfrom Calcutta. Parallel with this was theseemingly unstoppable advance of theburgeoning new Kingdom of Nepal,leading inevitably to a collision of interestswith the British. The historical background,meticulously researched by the author inhis mountain retreat, is supported by somesixty reference notes throughout. Woveninto recorded history is the colourful andsometimes earthy narrative of theadventurous life of a Gurkha boy calledChegu Dura.” The story goes on to thetime of the Anglo-Nepal War where Cheguis killed in brave action against the Britishled by General Ochterlony. This action ledto the recognition of the Gurkhas asexcellent fighters and material for theexpanding East India Company Army, theTreaty of Segauli of 1816 and theimposition by the British of a Resident inKathmandu.

The Crown of Renown was originallypublished in Kathmandu by MandalaBooks. It was republished in 2009 by theHall Mark Press(hallmarkpress@googlemail.com). This isset in the final stages of the East IndiaCompany’s existence. It explores whathappened when Brian Hodgson, the EastIndia Company’s Resident, met Gurkhahillmen in Kathmandu. It tells of the siege

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of Bharatpur, 1825/26 which was the firsttime that Gurkhas fought alongside Britishsoldiers. A short review appeared in the2009 edition of the journal.

The Fame of the Name covers the period1857 to 1987. In this work Crossconcentrates on how the hard life of hillmen in Nepal breed self-reliance, keenpowers of observation, cunning and single-mindedness of purpose. There is no singlethread or plot in this work, covering as itdoes so many events. The stories arearound individual events. These includehow Gurkhas were made into spying‘pundits’, the Delhi Durbar, working forthe Amir in Afghanistan, World War I atNeuve Chappel, the campaign in Sikkim,and Malaya 1942.

The Age of Rage covers the post warperiod 1947 to 2008. This period mirrorsmuch of Cross’s service with the Gurkhasand his subsequent life post retirement inNepal. Some of the characters he has basedloosely on people he met and served with.In his extensive list of acknowledgementshe makes the point: “All real personsnamed are now factually dead and none inany way is purposely mentioned in aderogatory fashion. For the rest, events andpersonalities only exist in the author’simagination and on the printed page, albeitinfluenced by those he once knew.” In his‘Background’ (p. xi) he explains hisrationale for writing this series of wasbased on the idea of presenting knownhistorical events through the eyes of ‘hillmen’ from the villages through the mediumof fictional novels. This is a fascinating taleof intrigue as Nepal comes to terms withthe events of 1947 with Indianindependence. The British Gurkhas aredeployed to Malaya to combat the Chineseinspired emergency and the story tells of aSoviet-inspired plot to subvert Gurkhas toreduce their effectiveness in that theatre. In

the 1962 Sino-Indian war some IndianArmy Gurkhas are captured and theChinese attempt to brainwash/re-educate asmall group of them and then infiltratethem back into Nepal and to Malaya. Theplot is foiled by a British officer. It makes adiverting read of what might have been.

The three novels, The Restless Quest,The Fame of the Name, and The Age ofRage bracket the 200 years of service ofGurkhas to the British Crown. To this endJohn’s publisher, Blenheim Press, have re-published them at a special rate to markthis important Gurkha anniversary. A flierto this effect is enclosed.

However as Cross progressed from whathe initially thought would take ten years towrite the five books, with all thebackground research that was needed, iteventually became seventeen. Initially hisidea was to write the series based onknown Nepalese events seen through theeyes of Gurkha hillmen at village level, butas time went on he realised that he waspresenting the interaction between theNepalis and British, Indians and others insouth Asia over a long stretch of time. Hislatest work Operation Four Rings wasreviewed in the last edition of the journaland is another fine tale of intrigue withcloak & dagger operations based theauthor’s intimate knowledge of Laos.

Other earlier works have included TheCall of Nepal described as a ‘PersonalNepalese Odyssey in a DifferentDimension’. A description is in the 1996edition of the journal.

In 2002 Greenhill Books publishedGurkhas at War an edited collection ofexperiences that Cross and his adopted son,Buddiman Gurung, collected from oldsoldiers as a result of a long trip throughthe hills on audio tape. This provided apermanent audio record of campaigns thatthe old soldiers had fought from World War II

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up until that time. Some members mayremember the book launch that took placeat the Royal United Services Institute thatyear. A review is contained in the 2002edition of the journal.

In 2008 Pen & Sword published JungleWarfare Experiences & Encounters. Thisreflects his long service in the Far Eastfinally becoming Commandant of theJungle Warfare School in Malaysia. Heuses many examples from World War IIand subsequent operations in Indo-China,Malaya, Borneo and Sarawak. Morerecently he wrote Gurkha Tales publishedby Pen & Sword and reviewed in the 2012edition of the journal. The ‘tales’ describe aseries of unusual incidents in Cross’smilitary career and life associated withNepal.

The aim of this review is rekindleinterest in Cross’s literary out put coveringthe period of Gurkha service to the British.Cross’s own military service andsubsequent life in Nepal covers a largeproportion of that time. As was announcedto the Society last year, Cross, now in hisninetieth year, finally achieved his goal inobtaining Nepali citizenship..

I hope this has renewed interest in JPX’sworks, all written in his own unmistakeablestyle and all good stories even if some ofthe historical novels require a reasonablelevel of concentration. You will see fromthe latest appeal from JPX that he has notyet put down his pen!

AN APPEAL FROM JOHN CROSS I have been asked by The History Press toproduce a book of stories of Gurkhas asexperienced by British officers. Theproposal is for between fifty to seventy-five stories of 1500 to 2500 words each,written in the first person singular. I amasking that you send your contribution tome for editing and onward transmission to

the publishers. My contact details are givenbelow.

The subject matter will mostly be aboutwar, with octogenarians and above writingabout Burma, partition in India, theCalcutta riots, the North-West Frontier,then on down the years until the mostrecent experiences. Incidents on exercisesand overseas training could well fall withinthe template, in fact anything that youparticularly treasure and would like to seein print for permanency but have never hadenough material to bring it up to book size.A particular incident that you would likeyour grandchildren’s children to knowabout, that would bring an ‘oh ah’ and asurprised hush at the vicar’s wife’s teaparty and that you can never forget.

If offers could reach me by latest 1stAugust 2016, the book will be published inearly 2017. I will select (provided there areenough to select from!), edit and send theresults on to the publisher. Any relevantmaps and photos on offer will, of course,be returned.

My contact details are: Address: Lt Col J P Cross BG Pokhara BFPO 4 Phone: Landline ++977-61-431181; Mobile (Buddhiman’s) ++977-98560-23285 e-mail; jpxpkr@wlink.com.np

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BOOK REVIEWS

Natural History and the Indian Army.By JC Daniel & Lieut Gen Baljit Singh(Retd). The Bombay Natural HistorySociety. 2009. Pp 260. Illus, colour &B&W. Hb. ISBN (10)0-19-806450-0.ISBN(13) 978-01-98063-503 The Bombay Natural History Society(BNHS) has produced a medium sizedcoffee table book describing a wide rangeof natural history topics written bymembers of the Indian Army over theperiod 1778 to 2002. The BNHS wasfounded in 1883 and has produced worksof reference since 1886 and is the leadingnon-governmental organisation in theIndian Subcontinent. The authors or co-editors, JC Daniel and Lieutenant GeneralBaljit Singh (Retd), have put together aunique record of observations carried outby Indian Army officers from the time ofthe initial East India Company to the post1857 ‘Raj’ period and up to the present day(2002). The early days, particularly in whatwe know as the ‘Victorian era’, was a timeof initial exploration when not much wasknown and it was fashionable for English(& also the Scottish et al) gentlemen totake an interest in such matters asamateurs. Many became collectors andtaxonomy and field sports featuredstrongly. In those days rifles and shot gunswere used for collecting specimens whichhave largely been by replaced highpowered optics which were then notavailable. The Indian Army attracted highquality young officers most of whomachieved high marks on passing out ofSandhurst. Whereas those with lessfinancial means would not have been ableto afford the life-style in a British regiment,candidates selected for the Indian Armycould afford to play sports such as polo,

pig sticking and hunting, often big game,on Indian Army pay. There was always thechance of action and possible glory withskirmishes on the Frontiers. Many foundthemselves in remote places with,compared to today, time on their hands.The differing articles reflect their interestsand activities. The chapters in moderntimes indicate the growing need andunderstanding for conservation whichtoday’s officers have taken on board. Manycome from land-owning families so areable to see the effects on wildlife inmodern India close to.

Each chapter is a paper on a particulartopic taken from the authors’ work whichthe editors have researched. Shortbiographical notes on each of thecontributors accompany each paper.Contributors include Lt Col JH Williamsother wise known as ‘Elephant Bill’ onelephants. Maj RWG Hingston, medicalofficer with the 1924 Everest Expedition,whilst a knowledgeable ‘birder’, haswritten a detailed piece on caterpillars.There are chapters on the ‘big cats’, thehistory of hunting with local packs ofhounds which was developed in thegarrisons around the country and fishing.One chapter, written by Surgeon Major TCJerdon of the Indian Medical Services, isabout the ‘hunting leopard’. Jerdon ismore usually known in the birding worldas his name is connected a number ofAsian species including Jerdon’s Babbler,Jerdon’s, Bushchat, Jerdon’s Laughing-thrush and Jerdon’s Bushlark. It isinteresting to note that a good proportionof the papers have been written bymembers of the Indian Medical Servicespresumably due to their scientific training.

The book is well illustrated with colourand black & white photos and

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reproductions of 19th century prints. Thiswork will appeal primarily to those whohave had the good fortune to travel aroundIndia and the national parks and to thosewho love India or whose relatives oncelived and worked there.

Gerry Birch(It is understood that this work may beavailable through the RSPB or directlythrough the BNHS, cost ICRs 1200 + p&p.Ed.)

Arc of the Gurkha – From Nepal to theBritish Army. By Alex Schlachter. Elliotand Thompson Ltd. London. 2014. Pp 287.Illust. Index. Hb £30. ISBN 978-1-90965-399-3.This is a lavishly illustrated work in bothblack & white and colour in a medium-sized coffee table format. It has a shortintroductory piece by Brigadier Ian Rigdenon the history of the Brigade of Gurkhas.The subsequent chapters follow the Gurkhasoldier from initial recruitment untilretirement. There are separate sections thatlook at each of the main constituents of theBrigade’s units, the RGR, the Corps units,Band and Training Company. Each chapterhas a short explanatory note and all thephotographs have full descriptions.Although there are a few archival picturesto help set the scene, by far the most arethose taken by Alex Schlachter. Themajority of these are of individual Gurkhasat all stages of their life and service andinto retirement. Alex Schlachter is anAustrian photographer who has carried outextensive work with police and militaryunits in the United States and Europe. Itwas whilst she was embedded with the USMarine Corps in Helmand that she cameacross the Royal Gurkha Rifles. Shebecame interested in this unique British unitand was able to see and accompany themon their operations as she had done with the

US Marine Corps. The commanding officerof 2 RGR was extremely impressed withthe photographs she had taken whilst inAfghanistan to the extent that he suggestedshe be asked to produce a work to cover allaspects of the Gurkha’s life and work in theBrigade which would coincide with‘Gurkha 200’, the 200th anniversary ofGurkha service to the British Crown. Arc ofa Gurkha is the achievement ofSchlachter’s three year project. She hasbrought an uncanny depth of understandingand feeling in her photographs. The notesaccompanying these include many personalanecdotes about the individual ‘sitter’.Schlachter achieved a depth of empathywith her subjects that shines out veryclearly. The photographs have beendescribed as ‘as honest and frank imagesthat tell the story of an amazing lifelongjourney – the physical act of being aGurkha soldier.’ I fully endorse this viewand to quote Brigadier Rigden again: ‘Thisis an exceptional book, with images of rarebeauty. It is a very special contribution tothe history of the Brigade.’ I unreservedlyrecommend that this work be included inthe library of everyone who has had serviceor connection with the Brigade. Itspublication has coincided well with‘Gurkha 200’.

Gerry Birch

Letters from the Empire – A Soldier’sAccount of the Boer War and the AborCampaign in India. Stepen Morris (ed).Spellmount Military Memoirs an imprint of The History Press, Stroud, UK, 2011.Pp 271. Illus B&W photos. Bibliog. Appx. Index. Pb. £14.99. ISBN 978-0-7524-6518-0.This book consists of a collection of letterswritten by a young man, Allan Hutchins,from a well-to-do family from mid Wales.He volunteered for service in the Boer

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War, joining from the militia in which hisfather was the commanding officer andwent on to join the Indian Army. He wascommissioned into 3rd Queen Alexandra’sOwn Gurkha Rifles. His career wastragically cut short by pneumonia whichhe contracted whilst on the little-knownAbor Campaign, fought in the remotejungle of Assam. The letters were broughtto light by Yvonne Wagstaff and SheilaShaw, distant relatives of Hutchinsfollowing a series of coincidences whichled to the discovery of trunks of letters andfamily artefacts. Both Wagstaff and Shawbecame fascinated by their find. Thisedited collection is the result of their longand detailed researches that included visitsto South Africa in the steps of theirancestor some 100 years before. In orderto take part in the Boer War Hutchinsresigned his commission and became atrooper in the Montgomeryshire ImperialYeomanry where after a period of activeservice, home leave and re-enlistment he isagain commissioned rising to temporarycaptain. At the end of Boer War hostilitiesHutchins was gazetted out of the ImperialYeomanry. He then took the Infantry,Militia and Yeomanry competitiveexamination becoming the first officer topass from the Yeomanry into regularservice. He arrived in India in 1903 anddid the mandatory one year’s service witha British unit, the Leicestershire Regiment,before joining the 73rd Carnatic Infantryfor another year before being gazetted into3rd Queen Alexandra’s Own GurkhaRifles. He achieved his captaincy ahead ofhis length of service in 1910 beingstationed at Sadiya in Assam as SecondAssistant Commandant LakhimpurMilitary Police. It was from here that hetook part in operations in the dense junglebetween Assam and Tibet beforesuccumbing to pneumonia.

The letters are split into two distinct

halves with explanatory sections onHutchins’ family background and the warin South Africa preceding the letters fromthere and a piece on India introducing theIndian correspondence. There are a fewgood black & white photographs of thefamily and events in South Africa andAssam. The photograph of Sadiya on theBrahmaputra looks little different fromhow it looks today on this reviewer’s tripthere in 2012.

The Hutchins’ writing is of the rather‘Boys Own’ idiomatic style of the daywhen the British Empire was probably atits zenith. He clearly wanted travel andadventure and he seems to have had it.There are interesting vignettes of messlife, worries of promotion, cash flow andhow to build up savings, and concern notto miss out on any action. Issues notuncommon for today’s career youngofficers! Readers will probably find thatHutchins’ view of the Boer War naïve andpolitically incorrect by today’s take on thatconflict. Young officers’ accounts of therecent operations in Iraq & Afghanistanare similarly written in today’s modernlanguage but I believe have a greater depthof knowledge of why they are there. Thisis due to wider education and of course theexplosion of global communications. Allthis not withstanding, he was a keen andpromising young officer with ideas andinitiative, sadly brought to a prematureend. This is an interesting read andparticularly for his time with the Gurkhasand the little-known Abor campaign.

Gerry Birch

Everest Revealed – the Private Diariesand Sketches of Edward Norton, 1922-24 Christopher Norton (ed). The HistoryPress. Stroud, Gloucs, UK. 2014. Pp 156.Illus B&W and colour photos. Maps.Notes, Index. Glos. Bibliog. Hb. £20. ISBN 9-7807-5095-5850.

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Lt Col Edward Norton took part in boththe 1922 and 1924 Everest expeditions.He led the latter expedition on whichMallory and Irvine disappeared, last seenby Odell ‘going strong’ high on themountain. This is a beautifully producedwork in a medium-sized coffee- tableformat. Norton wrote the official recordof the 1924 expedition entitled ‘The Fightfor Everest, 1924’ which would have beenbased on his diary and notes taken at thetime. This is to be re-published byVertebrate Publishers in late 2015 withsome new material and includes a prefaceby Doug Scott. In ‘Everest Revealed’Norton’s son, Christopher Norton, has puttogether his father’s private diaries,sketches, photographs and letters for thefirst time. The introduction written byboth sons outlines his life and career.Born in 1884 his life spanned the reignsof six monarchs and two world wars. Hewas commissioned into the Royal HorseArtillery and served through World War Iand was awarded the DSO and the MC.(Later he rose to the rank of lieutenant-general and his son, Bill Norton, told methat in 1940 he was sent to Hong Kong toassess the possibilities of its defence.Unsurprisingly he declared it was notdefensible!) Prior to the war he hadserved in India for seven years so he wasfamiliar with India and its languages andpeople which proved vital to bothexpedition teams with his provenleadership qualities. He developed a deepinterest in mountaineering as a result ofhis family’s chalet in the French Alps. Hetook great interest in wildlife and assistedTom Longstaff , the 1922 expedition’snaturalist, collecting bird skins for theNatural History Museum and plantspecimens for Kew Gardens. Theseinterests are well demonstrated in hisnotes and sketches. The approach toEverest in those days was via the

Darjeeling District, into Tibet through theChhumbi valley and the trek via theRongbuk monastery to base camp on theRongbuk glacier. The well-produced mapsclearly show the approach routes and theline taken on the mountain. Officers ofthis era, especially Gunners and Sappers,were, I believe, encouraged in their abilityto draw and sketch in the field – nodigital cameras then. Norton had anexcellent hand and the more leisurelyapproach marches gave him theopportunity sketch to his hearts content.Sketches include general views, plants,trees, animals and people and give a verygood impression of the area throughwhich the expedition moved and on themountain. The format of the diary pagesis well laid out and easy to follow, givingdate and site details. Entries vary inlength depending upon the situation. Forexample:

‘31/3/24 Gnatong (This is below the JelepLa before crossing into the Chhumbivalley. Ed.)

‘Marched at 7.30 – I climbed about 3,000feet & then sat & sketched gorgeous viewof Kinchenjunga with brilliant redrhododendrons in the foreground [Pl. 44].Then rode up to the little tea shop atLangtu. Then walked by N. side of hill tothe col & thence walked & rode alternatelyarriving 1.15. As before found this themost delightful march of the lot.Magnolias & the red rhododendrons in fullbloom – higher the mauve primula in bedsof colour. On the plateau there was a lot offreshish snow, & it was pretty chilly tho’warmer than last year. After lunch issuedcoolies’ blankets & c – painted a bit [Pls45-6] and then did high altitude storeswith Mallory until dinner. On the way upsaw a flock of siskins, lammergeyer, abronze green laughing thrush I don’t know,

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Indian redstart & some pipits & finches Icouldn’t identify. A happy day.’

‘6/6/24. No III (ie Camp 3. Ed.)Still stone blind after night of pain.

Mallory, Irvine & party got off about 7.30.About 10.30 Hingston, Nima Tundoo &Chutin arrived to look after me. Decidedto go down, stone blind as I was – Hazardescorted and roped me as far as bottom ofchimney & the other three the rest of theway – a notable performance on the part ofHingston. Was carried into III from edgeof glacier down the moraine on one-mancarrier & got in about 4.30.’

Norton himself climbed to 28,126 ftwithout oxygen on the 1924 expeditionand was the world altitude record untilHilary and Tenzing finally reached thesummit in 1953.

To maintain the diary, vital for laterrecords and reports, took a great deal ofeffort when high on the mountain. Hiswater colours are very evocative and againwere often completed with difficulty withfrozen paints at high altitudes. Similarlytaking photographs at altitude with thethen available equipment was no meanfeat. His leadership of the 1924 expedition,although tinged with great sadness at theloss of Mallory and Irvine, resulted in himreceiving awards from the French AlpineClub and the RGS. He was held in veryhigh regard as this quote from Somervell:‘When he took over the leadership in1924, he showed himself the ideal leader.He continually asked us all what ouropinions were, and respected them andthen led us in such a way that we all feltwe had our hand in his, and were as itwere yoked to him.’ Sir FrancisYounghusband, chairman of the MountEverest Committee in London

stated: ‘....it was Norton who set thestandard and established thecode....Especially had he ingrained in him

the principle that a leader must look afterthe least of every one of his followersbefore himself....’

The 1924 attempt had a tragic endingand this is well demonstrated in thetouching letters that Norton wrote on hisreturn to England. This work is anexcellent, informative and well-producedaddition to the history of Himalayanmountaineering and to the life of Tibet ofthat time and well deserves a place in thelibrary of anyone who has an interest inthis subject.

Gerry Birch

The Prisoner of Kathmandu – BrianHodgson in Nepal 1820 – 43. CharlesAllen. Haus Publishing Ltd, London,2015.pp xv + 288. Illust colour plates, linedrawings. Notes. Hb. £20. ISBN 978 1910376 11 09.The years 2015 and 2016, representrespectively the 200th anniversaries of thestart of Gurkha service to the British andthe end of the Anglo-Nepal War. Allen hasbrought out, in timely fashion, hisautobiography of Brian Hodgson, arguablythe most well-known and longest servingof the Honourable East India Company(HEICo) Residents in Kathmandu. A booklaunch was held at the Royal AsiaticSociety (RAS) in September, anappropriate venue as the RAS holds aconsiderable collection of paintings,manuscripts and artefacts that Hodgsonsent from Nepal during his tenure inKathmandu. The title includes the word‘prisoner’ which reflects the fact thatalthough the Nepal Durbar had to acceptthe imposition of a Resident from HEICoin 1816, following the Treaty of Segauli(or Sugauli), Residents were largelyconfined to the Kathmandu Valley. Thetreaty had trimmed Nepal’s bordersfollowing its earlier expansionist policy

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that had brought the Nepal Durbar intoconflict with the HEICo. The Durbarneeded to ensure that the Resident’sinfluence was kept to a minimum amongstthe machinations of the ruling families ofthe time, Shahs, Ranas, Thapas and Pandesbeing the most important and not to stir upthe ‘native’ population residing outside theValley.

Allen has described Hodgson’s careerin a series of chapters in chronologicalorder, giving much fascinating detail abouthis life and times. This throws light onhow HEICo chose to administer theirterritories and how Hodgson spent his timein Nepal and how he developed hisstudies. This is written a very readablestyle that clearly masks the amount ofdetailed research needed to produce awork of this nature.

Hodgson was born into an impecuniousmiddle class family in Cheshire. It wasnecessary for him to make his way in theworld. At this time there wereopportunities for possible fame and fortuneby taking service with the HEICo.Through influence he gained a place atHaileybury, the HEICo’s own vocationaltraining college (now a well-known publicschool). Hodgson did well achieving thetop position amongst his intake of studentsto be posted to Calcutta and gave him theright to choose in which presidency hewished to serve. He chose the BengalPresidency, the seat of government wherethere was the most action. On arrival (stillat the age of seventeen) he completed hiscivil service training at HEICo’s FortWilliam College. His frail constitutionquickly became evident in the monsoonclimate of Bengal. This had a lasting effecton his subsequent career. Through kindfriends and their influence he was postedin 1818 to Kumaon, a ‘hill station’, adesirable appointment. The death in 1820of John Stuart, assistant to Gardener,

Resident in Kathmandu, provided asuitable post for Hodgson. This set thetone of his future in Kathmandu. Aftersome 18 months Hodgson returned toCalcutta in 1822 which put him at thecentre of the politics of the Bengalpresidency. However once again the ‘HotWeather’ of 1823 intervened but this timethere was no suitable appointment open.He was given a nominal appointment asPostmaster in Kathmandu. Eventually hewas re-appointed in1825 once again asassistant to Gardner, with the appropriatesalary. Through all his early service hebecame absorbed by the languages andreligion, particularly of Tibet and theTibetans or ‘Bhot’ or ‘Bhotias’, the Nepaliterms he always used. He had the ability togain the confidence of local scholars andthrough them greatly increase westernknowledge of the culture and religion,especially Buddhism. Throughout his timein Kathmandu he entered into detailed ofcorrespondence with the Asiatic Society ofBengal in Calcutta and the Royal AsiaticSociety in London. An interesting light isthrown upon the politics of both theseacademic societies of that period. Theearly members of HEICo, usuallybachelors or at least unaccompanied, felt itnecessary to learn the language andcustoms of the people of India with whomthey had to deal. Strong emphasis was puton languages in which staff had to becomeproficient. Hodgson took great interest inthis aspect of his work which led him intoexploring other cultural areas. He was verymuch a pioneer in Nepalese studies andhas been referred to as the ‘Father ofHimalayan Studies’. He was a polymathand developed interests in particularlyBuddhist architecture, zoology,ornithology, law, religion, and ethnicity. Inthe field of ornithology he wrote a fairnumber of papers and his extensivenetwork of collectors provided specimens,

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many dispatched to Europe, and for hisartists to make some excellent paintings, alarge number of which is held by theZoological Society of London. Hisattempts at publication came to noughtmuch to his frustration. That he was ableto spend time on these activities was dueto the isolation of Kathmandu and unliketoday he was not plagued by superiorswanting a constant flow of information!Nevertheless it was not all plain sailing. In1837 the ruler of Afghanistan launched anattack on the Punjab in an attempt torecover territory lost to the Sikhs. Thiscaused excitement in the Durbar giving thehope to the Prime Minister, the unreliableBhimsen Thapa, that may be there wouldbe an opportunity to throw off Britishinfluence in Nepal. There followed in1839 - 40 the First Afghan War and theFirst Opium War. These apparent reversesgave more strength to the Durbar’sthoughts of reducing British influence.Internecine struggles in the Durbarcomplicated the issue. A force of Nepalesetroops once again crossed into Britishterritory and was not withdrawn despiterequests via the Resident. A mutiny in thearmy in Kathmandu, apparently they hadheard that a pay cut was to be imposed,led to a potential threat to Hodgson andthe residency staff as troops advancedclose by. Negotiations followed. Hodgsonwarned them that messages had alreadybeen sent to Calcutta. It was a tenseperiod, but once Hodgson had been told toinstruct the Durbar that HEICo troops hadbeen dispatched, the Raja accepted terms.At this time the Governor-General wasLord Auckland who was willing to acceptthe advice of the man on the ground.

Unfortunately changes in policy wereafoot. Those early entrepreneurs of HEICobecame known as ‘Orientalists’. Hodgsonthrough his initial training took this on

board. But as the nineteenth centuryprogressed the Court of Directors inLondon came under more pressure to‘enlighten’ the Indian population andspread education in English. Thoseadvocating this approach were known as‘Anglicists’. Allen describes how thesechanges affected HEICo policy and hencethe directives given to Hodgson as to howhe should treat the Durbar. In 1842Auckland was replaced by LordEllenborough. The latter was not one foraccepting advice from the man on theground. Hodgson was hoping to extend hisservice in Nepal but a series ofdisagreements with Ellenborough led tohis extension being refused. He wasoffered another appointment but at lowerstatus and so he retired from service. Inlater life he lived in Darjeeling where hecould continue work, finally returning toEngland in 1858.

This is a serious academic work and theresult of much research and study, writtenin Allen’s inimitable style to which wehave become accustomed, making this agood read for anyone interested in Nepal’ssomewhat complex history of that timeand her relations with the Resident and theHEICo. Due to the need to publish ontime, the work lacks an index; any futureedition should include one to aidreference.

Gerry Birch

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OBITUARIES

Lady Una Bishop 1918-2015Una Bishop, who died on 25 January aged96, was the widow of Sir George Bishop(1913-99), civil servant and businessman.They were both keen climbers in the Alpsand the Himalayas, and throug h thatinterest became involved in the Britain-Nepal Society. Una was born in Carlisle,where here father C. F. C. Padel washeadmaster of Carlisle Grammar School.She grew up in a predominantly maleworld, living with her three brothers in theboys-only school. Her paternal grandfather,a retired concert pianist, also lived withthem and taught her the piano, which sheplayed until her death. She was evidentlysomething of a tom-boy, joining herbrothers in sliding down the glass roofs ofthe fives courts in the school. Thisenvironment prepared her well for later life,when she was active in worlds dominatedby men, both in her own career and inaccompanying George to many remotecorners of the world. Una read philosophyat Bedford College (University of London),

evacuated to Cambridge during the War.After graduating she had a very successfulcareer in the Civil Service in theDepartment of Agriculture and Fisheries,where she also met George; by the time ofher retirement in about 1961 she hadbecome head of the horticulturaldepartment.

After she married George in 1961 theystared making climbing trips, first to theAlps and subsequently to the Himalayas.These trips were planned and organised byGeorge, who also took excellentphotographs, both of the mountains but alsoof the people whom they met and workedwith: they were as interested in the cultureof Nepal as in the mountains. Theycontinued these trips for over twenty years,between at least 1967 and 1989, climbingto over 20,000 feet into their sixties. Duringand after George’s presidency of the RoyalGeographical Society (1983-7) Una greatlyappreciated meeting people of similarinterests at its meetings. She also enjoyedthe time when she and George acted ashosts in Britain to Pember, the Sherpa withwhom they had worked most closely inNepal: they were keen to repay some of thehospitality and kindness which they hadenjoyed in that country. They took Pemberto North Wales to show him where Georgehad first climbed. Waking up early in thehut, he looked out and saw the sheep,grazing unguarded across the hillside.Thinking ‘The wolves will get them!’ hedashed out and rounded them up. OnTryfan a woman had sprained her ankle;people were about to send down for arescue team, but Pember saved trouble bypicking her up and running down thehillside. But what particularly interestedhim in Britain was (unsurprisingly) not themountains but the sea, notably watching the

Una Bishop with the late Sir GeorgeBishop.

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tide come in across the great area ofMorecambe Bay.

Una was a warm family member, both asstep-mother and step-grandmother toGeorge’s daughter Prudence and her family,and as aunt to eight nephews and nieces.She and George made a fine team. George’sown very successful career would havebeen harder without Una’s devotion andenthusiastic support, and she immenselyenjoyed the travel opportunities to everycontinent, which were opened up for herthrough giving that support, and which sheowed to his skills of organisation,particularly the superb trips to Nepal.

Oliver Padel (nephew)(Sir George Bishop took over as theSociety’s third president from Mr ArthurKellas in 1980, the latter having followedLord Hunt in 1976. An obituary describingSir George’s life is to be found in EditionNo. 23, 1999. Ed)

Lieutenant Colonel Henry Burrows 1923 -2015Henry Fairbridge Burrows was born on 21April 1923 at Llanrug, North Wales.He travelled widely as a boy and waseducated at Prince Edward’s School,Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia and KingEdward VI School, Chelmsford, Essex.Aged 16 at the outbreak of WW II Henrydecided to make the Army a career. He wasgranted an Indian Army Cadetship at 17,voluntarily enlisted in The Royal Scots inNovember 1941 and embarked for overseasservice in February 1942 aged 18. After sixmonths training at the Officer Cadet Schoolin Bangalore he was commissioned into the4th PWO Gurkha Rifles (4GR) on 4October 1942. Soon after arrival at theRegimental Centre at Bakloh he applied fora Regular Commission and was sent onfour long courses of instruction beforesuccessfully passing the RegularCommission Selection Board.

Henry commanded a Recruit TrainingCompany in India before being sent to the1st Battalion in Burma as a battle casualtyreplacement. After a spell with a riflecompany he was appointed SignalsOfficer/Intelligence Officer and BattleAdjutant. The 1/4GR suffered heavycasualties during operations in the region ofthe Silchar Track and was eventuallymoved to a rest area near Imphal beforebeing withdrawn to the North West Frontierof India. There Henry was appointedAdjutant before becoming a companycommander in 1946.

Shortly after Indian Independence inAugust 1947 1/4GR moved from Gardai toWana where it remained until it wasordered to move by road to Manzai forentrainment to Amritsar for control duties.En route they were ambushed by a largeforce of Mahsuds and suffered heavycasualties (27 killed and 26 wounded,appallingly high by Frontier standards).After three months of dismal duties in andaround Amritsar (described by WinstonChurchill as the bloodbath of The Punjab)all regular British Officers were posted tothe 1st Battalion 10th PMO Gurkha Riflesat Rangoon in Burma.

Henry was appointed D CompanyCommander on arrival and, a few days afterBurmese Independence on 4th January1948, embarked for Malaya. Soon afterarrival the battalion moved to MajedeeBarracks in Johore Bahru which became itspermanent base until 1962. Apart fromoccasional periods of leave and retrainingthe battalion was on active operationsagainst Communist Terrorists in Malayaand later in Sarawak and Sabah against theIndonesian Armed Forces (Confrontation)until 1968. Henry was mentioned indispatches for distinguished service inMalaya in 1953 and again in 1963 forservice in Sabah. He was promoted toLieutenant Colonel in 1966.

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Henry commanded the Royal BruneiMalay Regiment (now the Royal BruneiArmed Forces) for almost three years. Itwas a unique appointment for a LieutenantColonel as his command consisted of abattalion of infantry, a flotilla of patrolboats, a flight of helicopters and a largenumber of British civilian technicians. Hewas also responsible for a garrison of over3,000 people. As Brunei was at war withIndonesia until 1968 his force was engagedon active operations in the jungles ofBrunei State. The late Sultan of Brunei, SirOmar Ali Saifuddin abdicated in October1967 in favour of his son the Crown PrinceHassanal Bolkiah. Henry had to supervisethe military side of the coronation. He wasawarded two Datoships (knighthoods), thefirst (DSLJ) in October 1967 by the lateSultan and the second (DSNB) in March1969 by the current Sultan. He was alsoawarded a PHBS for distinguished service.His last appointment in the army was as aDeputy President at the RegularCommissions Board (RCB) at Westbury. Heretired from that appointment in May 1972after 31 years service and subsequentlyjoined the FCO as a Queen’s Messenger butwas soon transferred to the Security Service(M15) where he worked for 17 years beforefinally retiring in 1990. Henry andElizabeth were strong supporters of theSociety.(I am grateful to Col Rupert Litherland forthe information above. Ed.)

Mr David Inglefield (1934 -2014)The Society was sad to learn of the death in2014 of David Inglefield after an elevenyear struggle with cancer, husband of JeanInglefield, one of the early members of theSociety.

David was educated at Eton and TrinityCollege Cambridge. It is worth pointing outin this 70th anniversary of VJ Day thatDavid’s father was a prisoner of the

Japanese and experienced the horrors of theBurma railway. David did his nationalservice mainly in Malaya with the 12thLancers a period which he enjoyed. Onreturn he joined the Derbyshire Yeomanryin the county in which he had spent a happychildhood. Initially he started with a briefstint in insurance and then joined theprinting firm De La Rue for four yearsbefore joining the family firm, the InglefieldGroup of engineering companies. As hiscareer and life progressed he developedmany interests and became a member of theWorshipful Company of Haberdashers inwhich he took a great deal of interest intheir schools and charities, becoming Masterin 1998. In 1980 he was Sheriff of the Cityof London. Sadly he had to decline theappointment of High Sheriff ofNottinghamshire due to his illness. He wasmade a Commander of the Order of St John.His last job was working for the charity, thePolice Foundation. David met Jean at aGurkha Welfare Appeal event. Jean was atthat time secretary of the Victoria Cross andGeorge Cross Association. They married in1970 when Jean was a member of theSociety’s committee. Hence there was aNepal connection. Although David was nottechnically a member of the Society he washugely supportive of Jean in her efforts tohelp and guide the Society in its early days.Older members will remember him as anenthusiastic attender of those early functionsbut latterly distance from London andillness prevented him joining Societyevents. His nephew, who spoke at hisService of Thanksgiving, stated that hisuncle described dying in a tongue in cheekway as “the long walk to the pavilion afterthe final innings.”(Jean described some of the early times ofthe Society in the 2010 Golden Jubilee issueof the journal. Ed.)

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Dr Robert Richard Jordan (1937-2014)Robert (Bob) Jordan grew up in Chiswick,London. At Chiswick Grammar School hetook up rowing and became Captain ofBoats. In 1958, following two years’National Service in the RAF, he went up toSt John’s College, Cambridge to readeconomics, where his main interest wasrowing with the Lady Margaret Boat Club.He also became involved with theInternational Centre and taught English as aForeign Language at a language school in thevacations. This led to a career in EnglishLanguage Teaching rather than economics.He taught English in Finland from 1961-63and then joined the British Council in 1964.

After gaining his PGCE in TEFL/TESLat the Institute of Education, LondonUniversity, where he and I met, he wasposted to Kathmandu for 4 years. I rememberthat we had to look it up in the atlas to checkexactly where it was. However, this was apivotal and exciting experience, whichresulted in a life-long love of the country. Wetravelled by boat via the Suez Canal toBombay, then across India by train toCalcutta and finally by air to Kathmandu,shipping out a Land Rover and aWedgewood dinner set to start our marriedlife together in a country that had only beenopen to the West since the 1950s.

Based in Kathmandu, Bob’s job was totrain secondary school teachers of English.This involved a lot of trekking to visit

schools and recruit teachers for a rollingprogramme of 5-month courses inKathmandu. It was a chance encounter at anembassy cocktail party that led to one of hismost memorable experiences. Sir EdmundHillary, a regular visitor to the country sinceconquering Everest in 1953, was fundingvillage schools for the Sherpas through hisHimalayan Trust charity. “But once they’vebeen built,” Bob asked him, “Do you knowwhat goes on inside them?” This astutequestion resulted in Bob, accompanied by meflying to Lukla in a 6-seater plane for thestart of a hazardous 17-day expedition.Assisted by Sherpas, and sleeping in tents,we trekked over mountainsides to inspect thesix primary schools Hillary had built at thattime. Along the way we encountered leeches,viewed “yeti skulls” in the monasteries andmet the well-known Sherpa artist, KappaKalden. Later in life, after Bob retired, hegave illustrated talks about this trip to raisefunds for the Himalayan Trust UK, one ofwhich was to the Britain-Nepal Society.

Our four years in Nepal came to an endand Bob was sent to Edinburgh to study for aDiploma in Applied Linguistics and it washere that our son was born. Then we wereposted to Freetown, Sierra Leone, where wespent a difficult year because of politicalunease, at the end of which, for familyreasons, he resigned from the BritishCouncil. He took up the post of Lecturer inEducation and Tutor in English to OverseasStudents at Manchester University in 1972where he remained until he took earlyretirement in 1992. During this time he wroteeleven books and numerous articles on hisspecialism, English for Academic Purposes(EAP) and became a leading figure in thisfield. He was a founder member of BALEAP(British Association for Lecturers in EAP)and carried out inspections for them.

He maintained his connection with theBritish Council by giving short teachertraining courses and lecture tours travelling

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widely including three return visits to Nepalin 1989 and the early 1990s on shortconsultancies. We also holidayed there for our25th wedding anniversary in 1990, whichcoincided with demonstrations for democracyand celebrations when the king agreed topolitical parties. We paid a final visit toKathmandu in 2010 together with our twochildren, when Bob was already sufferingfrom Alzheimer’s, for the publication of hisbook, From Missionaries to Mountaineers:Early Encounters with Nepal based onextracts from his large collection ofantiquarian books on the country (This wasreviewed in the 2010 Edition of the journal.He and Jane also wrote of their experiencesworking for the British Council in Kathmanduin the same edition. Ed.). In his retirement hecontinued writing and in 1998 gained his PhDat Manchester based on his publications. Hehad also been an active member of theHimalayan Yeti Association based inManchester helping on the committee toorganize the Nepal Festival on two or threeoccasions and regularly attended the meetingsof the Britain-Nepal Society in London.

Jane Jordan

Major - General Ronnie McAlister CB OBE (1923 – 2015)Ronald William Lorne McAlister was born in1923 in Teddington, Gloucestershire, thesecond son of Colonel Ronald McAlister andhis wife, Nora. He was educated at Sedberghand joined the army in January 1942. He wasknown to his family as Lorne, but the armysaid no one had ever heard of the name. Hegave them Ronald as an alternative and, fromthen on, was known as Ronnie to his militarycolleagues.

He was sent by ship to the officer cadettraining unit in Bangalore for a commissionin the Indian Army. Arriving at Bombay inApril 1942, he warmed to his new life inwhich he was served by smart bearers inwhite uniforms and green turbans in the

cadet mess, and cycled to Urdu lessons. Hewas commissioned into the 3rd GurkhaRifles in October 1942, and was selected tobe a jungle warfare instructor even though hehad no experience of the jungle.

After six months, he was switched to asecret establishment in Poona where agentsof a branch of the Special OperationsExecutive (SOE) known as Force 136 werebeing trained to harry the Japanese behindenemy lines. During one training programmehe instructed his students to lay a mockexplosive charge along the main Madras toBombay railway. When the night expressapproached, it set off the low-powereddetonator with a muffled bang. There was nodanger to the train, but the driver brought itto a screeching halt. McAlister sneaked offquickly.

In December 1944, McAlister was postedto the 1st Battalion 3rd Gurkha Rifles, whichhad been fighting the Japanese as part of the17th Indian Division since January 1942. Hetook part in the advance from the RiverChindwin in Burma, which led to the defeatof the Japanese 33rd Army and the 350-milefighting march to relieve Rangoon. He wasmentioned in dispatches. At one point in theadvance, he was sent off to discover whatprogress was being made up ahead. He tooka Jeep and headed off. When he returned, hefound that Japanese shells had landed on hisbattalion headquarters, killing seven men,including his orderly.

McAlister was mentioned in dispatches ontwo more occasions; during service between1948 and 1950 with the 10th Gurkhasfighting the communist insurgency inMalaya; and for his outstanding leadership ofthe 1/10th Gurkhas operating againstIndonesian special forces encroaching on theSarawak border in 1965 during PresidentSukarno’s confrontation with Malaysia.

He is undoubtedly best remembered forthe Sha Tau Kok border incident which hasbeen fully described elsewhere in the journal.

He went on to command the Berlin

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infantry brigade from 1969 to 1971, andfrom 1975 to 1977 he was Major-GeneralBrigade of Gurkhas and deputy commanderBritish Forces Hong Kong.

General Ronnie was a modest man whosaid little about his distinguished militarycareer. His name will long be linked with therelief of Sha Tau Kok and his leadership ofthe Gurkhas. (I am grateful to The Times and DailyTelegraph and HQBG for the aboveinformation. Ed.)

Colonel Brian Thompson MBE L/RAVC(1935 – 2014)Colonel Thompson’s last posting was asCommandant of the Defence Animal Centrein Melton Mobray from 1987 until his earlyretirement in 1990. He enjoyed a verydiverse and interesting career in the RAVC,with many one -off postings. Throughout hiscareer, the welfare of the animals and teamsunder his command was his primary concern,and he was happiest in the field,contemplating the latest challenge that hadbeen presented.

Brian John Thompson was born inBerkshire and educated at Reading School.After graduating from The Royal VeterinaryCollege, London in 1962 he had a short stintin private practice in Hampstead. However,he quickly became bored with attending topampered poodles and signed up for a shortservice commission with the Royal ArmyVeterinary Corps. His first overseas tour wason an emergency posting to Jungle WarfareSchool in Malaya. This appealed to hispioneering spirit and prompted him to applyfor a regular commission. Aged 18 he hadbeen part of a British Schools ExploringSociety expedition to British Columbia. Thistrip had ignited a love of coping in a remotelocation with limited resources andthroughout his career he relished thechallenges created. One of the leaders on thatexpedition was a Lt John Chapple and wasthe start of a lifelong friendship. Hours

before his fatal heart attack, Brian hadenjoyed reminiscing with the now FieldMarshal Sir John Chapple at the Britain- Nepal Society AGM in London.

Whilst in Malaya Brian went to do aholiday relief at 5 Gurkha Dog Company inSingapore. He stayed in the RAMC mess andmet a young army doctor, Captain PatEvershed. They married in January 1965,only eight weeks after they had met, and thenstayed on for a full tour in Singapore. Theparish extended from Gan in the Maldives toBorneo, and Brian was putting in more flyinghours than RAF aircrew. His hands onapproach soon earned him a reputation forbeing the person to send on some of thearmy’s more unusual postings. He spent timeat Harwell involved in medical research,resulting in a lifelong aversion to the smell ofgoats, and was co- opted in to help with thefoot and mouth outbreak in 1967. Then in1971 he was seconded to the SAS to spendsix months in Oman as part of Op Storm’s‘Hearts and Minds’ campaign to win over thelocal population. There he added camels,goats, chickens and the Sultan’s prize bulls tohis list of more unusual animals under thecare of the RAVC. Within weeks of hisreturn, he was posted to be the first vet to goto Northern Ireland where he established theArmy Dog Unit, which was instrumental inproviding canine support in counterterrorism. This role put him and his family indanger of attack by the IRA, and for a timetheir house was under the protection of RoyalMarine commandos. In 1976 he led the first‘Long Look’ where service personnel fromUK and Australia swopped roles for fourmonths, to learn how their opposite numbersdid things. This involved training dogs withlive mines, which he reported was asomewhat scary experience. Perhaps his mostchallenging posting, but one which he hugelyenjoyed, was six months in the Falklandsafter surrender in 1982. He was tasked withre- establishing the veterinary services, whichhad been decimated by the war. Besides

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advising on the use of army dogs to detectmines and establishing a base for guard dogs,his responsibilities ranged from holding radioclinics for the farmers and prescribing bynumbers the drugs he had issued to them, toestablishing a new slaughter house as the onein Stanley had been booby trapped. He alsomade regular helicopter flights with amarksman in order to destroy animals injuredin the unmarked minefields and liaised withthe RAF to ensure the breeding grounds forpenguins and seals were not disturbed by lowflying aircraft – none of which was coveredby any RAVC manual.

He did two tours in Hong Kong,commanding the Hong Kong Dog Companyfrom 1979 to 1981 and returning againbetween 1984 to 1987. The unit’s role was topatrol the border with mainland China andstop illegal immigrants from entering HongKong and it was for this work that he wasawarded the MBE in 1981.

Brigadier John Neeve remembers meetingBrian in Hong Kong in 1980 when he, as amajor, was taking over as OC HQ & SignalSquadron: “ My first meeting with BrianThompson was in the ante room of 48 GurkhaInfantry Brigade Officers’ Mess in BorneoLines, Sek Kong in 1979. I had just beenposted back to Hong Kong after 9 years awayand was keen to get up to date. On mypreliminary visit to the Mess, I approached thesolitary occupant of the room and introducedmyself. I found myself talking to the OfficerCommanding the Sek Kong Dog Unit, MajorBrian Thompson RAVC. He was virtuallyinvisible behind a thick cloud of pipe smokebut made me welcome, offered me a drink andthen proceeded to explain the dark politics oflife in Borneo Lines. I later came to realizethat my reaction to these often acerbicrevelations was Brian’s way of gaugingwhether I was going to fit in - or not!”

Whilst in Hong Kong Brian worked withthe philanthropist, Horace Kadoorie. TheKadoories had established a resettlement

farm in the New Territories to help Gurkhasoldiers make the transition from soldier tohill farmer in Nepal. Brian undertook about10 trips to Nepal, sometimes for up to amonth at a time. He visited every GurkhaWelfare station, and advised on whatpractical help could be given. He spoke noGurkhali and at times was three days walkfrom the nearest road, entirely dependent ontwo porters to carry his food and tents. It wasa record that was the envy of many BritishGurkha officers, very few of whom saw somuch of the real Nepal.

Following early retirement from theRAVC, he continued his interest in welfarework as Overseas Director for the BrookeHospital for Animals. He spent five years withthem, leading their work in Egypt, Jordan,Pakistan and India to set up clinics for theworking equines in poor and remote places.He led from the ground, visiting all locationsand establishing links with the local workers.

Since 1995 he had enjoyed a fulfillingretirement. He did a Diploma in Archaeologyat the University of Leicester, kept fit bywalking his dogs and ‘beating’ on the Dukeof Rutland’s estate, and joined themanagement committee for Victim Supportin East Leicestershire. In 2005 Brian and Patdecided to return to their roots in the south ofEngland in order to be nearer to theirchildren. They settled on the edge ofAshdown Forest in East Sussex, and wereblissfully happy there. Brian was a well known dog walker, involved in theconservation work in the forest and was oftento be seen striding out across the forest, pipein hand and dog at his side. It was his longtime interest in Nepal that kept hismembership of the Society alive.(I am grateful to Mrs Pat Thompson andBrig Neeve for the information for the above.Sadly Brian died from a heart attack on hisway home from the Society’s AGM 4thDecember 2014 where he had had severalconversations with members. Ed.)

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Richard McIvor Thwaites 1947– 2015Richard was educated at Uppingham andcommissioned from Mons Officer CadetSchool into the 10th Gurkha Rifles in 1966.He served in Malaya, Borneo, Hong Kongand Cyprus, and did a tour in NorthernIreland, over a period of 10 years duringwhich he held a number of specialistappointments including Regimental SignalsOfficer and Motor Transport Officer. His lastappointment was OC B Company in HongKong, at a time when Jo was also servingthere in the QARANC. Richard was a verygood athlete who trained and ran in a numberof successful 10GR cross-country and Khudrace teams; however it was his linguisticskills that made him stand out. He had aremarkable ear and was a wonderful mimicwho amused his fellow subalterns with hisastonishingly accurate mimicking of moresenior officers’ linguistic skills and ours (orlack of them by his high standards).

He left the Army in 1976. He and Jo weremarried in Kathmandu in 1977 where theyworked, as Field Director and Clinic Nurse,for Save the Children for five years. Richardthen moved into international developmentprincipally with PLAN International (a childorientated NGO) and over period of fourteenyears worked in Indonesia, America, Kenyaand Nepal again. He was in Nepal when the1988 earthquake struck and was decorated bythe King of Nepal for his distinguished workduring the relief efforts. It was in 1996, whenhe was working at PLAN International’s HQin Woking, that he was diagnosed as having abrain tumour. His recovery from majorsurgery was slow and he had to learn to walkagain. Ever determined he ran the Edinburghmarathon in 4 hours 20 minutes, three yearsafter his surgery. A spell in Quito, Ecuadorfollowed but the tumour re-grew and furthersurgery followed. This left him with balancedifficulties and some loss of function downhis right-hand side but he was undeterred bythis and continued to work in post-conflict

relief. Assignments in Bosnia, Afghanistan,Liberia, Tajikistan and Libya followed and hewas about to go to South Sudan when hedied unexpectedly as a result of heart failure.

Combined with his determination androbustness as a soldier, Richard was caringhumanitarian who liked nothing more than tobe ‘in the field’ with people helping them.His linguistic ability, he spoke eightlanguages fluently, allowed him to do thiswell. That and his sometimes wicked senseof humour, enthusiasm for life and generosityof spirit were strong attributes and he wasalso a devoted family man. Our deepestsympathy goes out to Jo and their daughtersNicky, Katie and Alison.

RL

John Tyson OBE, MC (1928 – 2014)John Baird Tyson was born in Partick,Scotland, and brought up in London, wherehis father was Surmaster (deputy headmaster)of St Paul’s School. He acquired a passionfor climbing during family holidays inScotland, France and Switzerland. I first metJohn when, as a schoolboy, I spent a monthat the Outward Bound Mountain School inEskdale, where John was an instructor andEric Shipton was Warden. It was evidenteven from this first contact that he was a verydetermined character who, once he haddecided on a course of action, would see itthrough to the end in an almost obsessiveway.

In his National Service during theMalayan Emergency, he won the MilitaryCross for leading his platoon with greatdetermination against a group of guerrillas,who were eliminated. While not unique, suchmedals were few and far between.

After demobilisation, John went to readGeography at Magdalen College, Oxford,and in 1952 led the first-ever OxfordUniversity Scientific Expedition to theHimalaya. In addition to work on severalhigh-altitude projects in the Tehri-Garhwal

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region, the team made first ascents ofGangotri I and Gangotri III, both above6500m. In the Alps, he had done such routesas the Marinelli Couloir, the Zmutt Ridge andthe Younggrat. As a housemaster at RugbySchool, over several seasons he introducedboys to guideless climbing in the Swiss andFrench Alps. His enthusiasm over the yearsled to many worthwhile routes beingcompleted, many along the Haute Route.

In 1953, he and Bill Murray had made anexploratory journey to the Api and Namparegion in the far north-west of Nepal wherethey made the first ascent of several peaks inthe 5500m-6000m range. Around this time,he bought a house in Eskdale. There, he andhis wife Phebe offered renowned hospitalityto visiting mountaineers and other friends.Then, in 1961, began John’s obsession withKanjiroba (6880m). This massif in westNepal had become his blank on the map.Over the next nine years, he led expeditionsthrough very rough country but, in spite ofsustained efforts, he never reached thesummit.

In 1964, I joined him in west Nepal. Aftera wonderful few weeks of surveying andclimbing several peaks of around 5500m-6000m, we forced a route along the LanguKhola, the gorge of the Langu River, butturned off too early to get to the peak ofKanjiroba - no GPS at that time. The 1969expedition learned from this and reached themountain, but dangerous snow conditionsprecluded a successful attempt. John’s finalvisit took place in 1998 when he had greatpleasure in being reunited with Sherpas fromthe 1964 and 1969 expeditions. Kanjirobahad become ‘John Tyson’s mountain’ to theextent that, when it was eventually climbedby a Japanese team, its leader sent a telegramto John to apologise: ‘with your permission,we have climbed your mountain.’ John wassaid to have been delighted.

Meanwhile, he was offered the headshipof a school to be funded by the British

government in Nepal, but politicaldifferences between the British and Indiangovernments prevented this coming tofruition immediately. Instead, he wasappointed headmaster of another British-funded school in Bhutan, where he spentthree years before being invited by theNepalese government to run its school inBudhanilkantha, where he spent six happyyears.

Perhaps it was having done the ZmuttRidge and Younggrat from a base in Zermatt,but, in his later years, year after year, hereturned to Zermatt to be among and to lookat the mountains of his youth.

He is survived by his wife Phebe Pope,and their daughter and two sons.

John Cole(I am grateful to the editor of the Alpine ClubJournal for permission to use this piece. TheBudhanilkantha School Project was viewedin Kathmandu as a very successful schoolwith the aim to educate potential leaders forNepal. Sadly British financial support wascut back apparently on the grounds ofexpense and ‘elitism’ - a casualty of politicalcorrectness? Ed.)

Peter Roberts OBEThe Society was advised that Peter had diedearlier in 2015. His wife, Diana had died in2009 as noted in the journal. During hiscareer in the FCO he held an appointment inthe British embassy, Kathmandu in the early1980s. As with many others who served inNepal, both he and Diana retained theirinterest in the country and were strongsupporters of the Society and he was acommittee member for some years and willbe remembered by older Society members.

GDB

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USEFUL ADDRESSES

The UK Trust for Nature Conservation in Nepalc/o Conservation ProgrammesZoological Society of LondonRegent’s ParkLondon NW1 4RYTel: (020) 7449 6304Fax: (020) 7483 4436The Gurkha Welfare Trust PO Box 217022 Queen StreetSALISBURY SP2 2EXTel: 01722 323955Fax: 01722 343119www.gwt.org.ukSchool of Oriental and African StudiesUniversity of LondonThornhaugh Street, Russell SquareLondon WC1H 0XGTel: (020) 7898 4034www.soas.ac.ukThe Britain Nepal Otology Service(BRINOS)Greensand CottagePuttenham RoadSeale Farnham GU10 1HPTel: (01252) 783265www.brinos.org.ukYeti Association(Nepali Association in UK)66 Abbey AvenueWembleyMiddlesex HA0 1LLEmail: yetinepaliassociation@hotmail.comThe Esther Benjamin’s TrustCAN Mezzanine32 – 36 Loman StreetLondon SE1 0EHWebsite: www.ebtrust.org.uk

The Britain-Nepal Medical Trust130 Vale RoadTonbridgeKent TN9 1SPTel: (01732) 360284www.thebritainnepalmedicaltrust.org.uk

The Britain-Nepal Chamber of Commerce35 St Philip’s AvenueWorcester ParkSurrey KT4 8JSTel: 020 8241 0313www.nepal-trade.org.uk

The Gurkha MuseumPeninsula BarracksRomsey RoadWinchesterHampshire SO23 8TSTel: (01962) 842832www.thegurkhamuseum.co.uk

The Royal Society for Asian Affairs25 Eccleston PlaceLondon SW1W 9NFTel: (020) 7235 5122www.rsaa.org.uk

Bird Conservation NepalPO Box 12465LazimpatKathmandu NepalTel: + 977 1 4417805Email: bcn@mail.com.npwww.birdlifenepal.org

HIMAL SouthasiaGPO Box 24393KathmanduNepalTel: +977 1 5547279Email: editoral@himalmag.com

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NOTES ON THE BRITAIN-NEPAL SOCIETYPresident: HRH The Duke of Gloucester KG GCVO

The Britain-Nepal Society was founded in1960 to promote good relations betweenthe peoples of the UK and Nepal. Weespecially wish to foster friendshipbetween UK citizens with a particularinterest in Nepal and Nepalese citizensresident – whether permanently ortemporarily – in this country. A muchvalued feature of the Society is the easeand conviviality with which members ofevery background and all ages mingletogether.

Members are drawn from all walks oflife including mountaineers, travellers,students, teachers, returned volunteers, aidworkers, doctors, business people,members of the Diplomatic Service andArmed Forces. The bond they all share isan abiding interest in and affection forNepal and the Nepalese people.Membership is open to those of all agesover 18 and a particular welcome goes toapplications from those under 35.

Ordinary members pay a subscriptionof £20, joint (same address) members £30per annum. Life membership is a singlepayment of £350, joint life membership apayment of £550; corporate businessmembers £75 per annum. Concessionarymembership of £15 per annum is availableto those under 25 or over 75 on productionof proof of age. The annual journalincludes a wide range of articles aboutNepal and is sent free to all members.

We keep in close touch with the Nepal-Britain Society in Kathmandu and theirmembers are welcome to attend all the

Britain-Nepal Society’s functions.However we do not have reciprocalmembership.

Members of the Yeti Association whichprovides equally for Nepalese residents orthose staying in this country are alsowelcome to attend the Britain-NepalSociety’s functions, and can become fullmembers of the Britain-Nepal Society inthe usual way. The Yeti is a flourishingorganization and they publish their ownattractive journal.

Throughout the year, the Society holdsa programme of evening lectures, whichare currently held at the Medical Societyof London, Chandos Street, off CavendishSquare where members are encouraged tomeet each other over a drink beforehand.

The Society holds an Annual NepaliSupper, usually in February and in theautumn we hold our AGM. The Societyalso holds receptions and hospitality forvisiting senior Nepalese.

Those interested in joining the Societyshould contact the treasurer, Col RupertLitherland at: rupertlitherland@gmail.com Website: www.britain-nepal-society.org.uk

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THE BRITAIN-NEPAL SOCIETY

President: His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester KG, GCVO

Vice-PresidentsBrigadier AB Taggart MC

Mrs Celia BrownColonel JM Evans MC

Sir Neil Thorne OBE, TD, DLMrs Pat Mellor

Sylvia Countess of Limerick CBELieutenant Colonel Gerry D Birch*

Committee (2014/15)Chairman: Mr Roger M Potter MBE

Vice-Chairman: Colonel John SK Swanston Honorary Secretary: Mary Jane (MJ) Streather Honorary Treasurer: Colonel Rupert Litherland

Mr Ashley AdamsLieutenant Colonel GC Bicket

Mr Gavin Edgerley-HarrisMrs Jenifer Evans

Mr Balmukund JoshiMrs Sneha Rana

Mrs Maggie SolonMrs Frances Spackman

Dr Mark Watson

Mr Tej B Chhetri, Charge d’Affaires a i. The Nepalese Embassy (ex officio)Mrs Cathy Bassa FCO (ex officio)

Major Nigel D Wylie Carrick MBE, HQ Brigade of Gurkhas (ex officio)Miss Alison Marston, Chairman Younger Committee (ex officio)

Editor of the Journal: Lieutenant Colonel GD Birch* (ex officio)

Printed by Moreton Hall Press, tel 01284 767442www.moretonhallpress.co.uk